Measuring the Evolution of Contemporary Western Popular Music

Science.gov (United States)

Serrà, Joan; Corral, Álvaro; Boguñá, Marián; Haro, Martín; Arcos, Josep Ll.

2012-07-01

Popular music is a key cultural expression that has captured listeners' attention for ages. Many of the structural regularities underlying musical discourse are yet to be discovered and, accordingly, their historical evolution remains formally unknown. Here we unveil a number of patterns and metrics characterizing the generic usage of primary musical facets such as pitch, timbre, and loudness in contemporary western popular music. Many of these patterns and metrics have been consistently stable for a period of more than fifty years. However, we prove important changes or trends related to the restriction of pitch transitions, the homogenization of the timbral palette, and the growing loudness levels. This suggests that our perception of the new would be rooted on these changing characteristics. Hence, an old tune could perfectly sound novel and fashionable, provided that it consisted of common harmonic progressions, changed the instrumentation, and increased the average loudness.

An Economist’s Guide to Digital Music

OpenAIRE

Martin Peitz; Patrick Waelbroeck

2004-01-01

In this guide, we discuss the impact of digitalization on the music industry. We rely on market and survey data at the international level as well as expert statements from the industry. The guide investigates recent developments in legal and technological protection of digital music and describes new business models as well as consumers' attitude towards music downloads and audio-streaming. We conclude the guide by a discussion of the evolution of the music industry.

The evolution of the Y-M scaling relation in MUSIC clusters

Science.gov (United States)

Sembolini, F.; Yepes, G.; De Petris, M.; Gottlöber, S.; Lamagna, L.; Comis, B.

2013-04-01

This work describes the baryon content and Sunyaev-Zeld'ovich properties of the MUSIC (Marenostrum-MultiDark SImulations of galaxy clusters) dataset and their evolution with redshift and aperture radius. The MUSIC dataset is one of the largest samples of hydrodynamically simulated galaxy clusters (more than 2000 objects, including more than 500 clusters). We show that when the effects of cooling and stellar feedbacks are properly taken into account, the gas fraction of the MUSIC clusters consistently agrees with recent observational results. Moreover, the gas fraction has a net dependence with the total mass of the cluster and increases slightly with redshift at high overdensities. The study of the Y-M relation confirms the consistence of the self-similar model, showing no evolution with redshift at low overdensities.

The origins of music in auditory scene analysis and the roles of evolution and culture in musical creation.

Science.gov (United States)

Trainor, Laurel J

2015-03-19

Whether music was an evolutionary adaptation that conferred survival advantages or a cultural creation has generated much debate. Consistent with an evolutionary hypothesis, music is unique to humans, emerges early in development and is universal across societies. However, the adaptive benefit of music is far from obvious. Music is highly flexible, generative and changes rapidly over time, consistent with a cultural creation hypothesis. In this paper, it is proposed that much of musical pitch and timing structure adapted to preexisting features of auditory processing that evolved for auditory scene analysis (ASA). Thus, music may have emerged initially as a cultural creation made possible by preexisting adaptations for ASA. However, some aspects of music, such as its emotional and social power, may have subsequently proved beneficial for survival and led to adaptations that enhanced musical behaviour. Ontogenetic and phylogenetic evidence is considered in this regard. In particular, enhanced auditory-motor pathways in humans that enable movement entrainment to music and consequent increases in social cohesion, and pathways enabling music to affect reward centres in the brain should be investigated as possible musical adaptations. It is concluded that the origins of music are complex and probably involved exaptation, cultural creation and evolutionary adaptation.

The origins of music in auditory scene analysis and the roles of evolution and culture in musical creation

Science.gov (United States)

Trainor, Laurel J.

2015-01-01

Whether music was an evolutionary adaptation that conferred survival advantages or a cultural creation has generated much debate. Consistent with an evolutionary hypothesis, music is unique to humans, emerges early in development and is universal across societies. However, the adaptive benefit of music is far from obvious. Music is highly flexible, generative and changes rapidly over time, consistent with a cultural creation hypothesis. In this paper, it is proposed that much of musical pitch and timing structure adapted to preexisting features of auditory processing that evolved for auditory scene analysis (ASA). Thus, music may have emerged initially as a cultural creation made possible by preexisting adaptations for ASA. However, some aspects of music, such as its emotional and social power, may have subsequently proved beneficial for survival and led to adaptations that enhanced musical behaviour. Ontogenetic and phylogenetic evidence is considered in this regard. In particular, enhanced auditory–motor pathways in humans that enable movement entrainment to music and consequent increases in social cohesion, and pathways enabling music to affect reward centres in the brain should be investigated as possible musical adaptations. It is concluded that the origins of music are complex and probably involved exaptation, cultural creation and evolutionary adaptation. PMID:25646512

Using music to study the evolution of cognitive mechanisms relevant to language.

Science.gov (United States)

Patel, Aniruddh D

2017-02-01

This article argues that music can be used in cross-species research to study the evolution of cognitive mechanisms relevant to spoken language. This is because music and language share certain cognitive processing mechanisms and because music offers specific advantages for cross-species research. Music has relatively simple building blocks (tones without semantic properties), yet these building blocks are combined into rich hierarchical structures that engage complex cognitive processing. I illustrate this point with regard to the processing of musical harmonic structure. Because the processing of musical harmonic structure has been shown to interact with linguistic syntactic processing in humans, it is of interest to know if other species can acquire implicit knowledge of harmonic structure through extended exposure to music during development (vs. through explicit training). I suggest that domestic dogs would be a good species to study in addressing this question.

The Evolution and Future of Cognitive Research in Music.

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Jack A.

1993-01-01

Discusses the evolution and current status of cognitive research in music. Identifies the field's five research branches: (1) sensation; (2) perception; (3) concept formation and memory; (4) affect or emotions; and (5) psychomotor activity. Recommends five changes for the future of cognitive musicology. (CFR)

The evolution of rhythm cognition: Timing in music and speech

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ravignani, A.; Honing, H.; Kotz, S.A.

This editorial serves a number of purposes. First, it aims at summarizing and discussing 33 accepted contributions to the special issue ‘The evolution of rhythm cognition: Timing in music and speech’. The major focus of the issue is the cognitive neuroscience of rhythm, intended as a neurobehavioral

Without it no music: Cognition, biology, and evolution of musicality

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Honing, H.; ten Cate, C.; Peretz, I.; Trehub, S.E.

2015-01-01

Musicality can be defined as a natural, spontaneously developing trait based on and constrained by biology and cognition. Music, by contrast, can be defined as a social and cultural construct based on that very musicality. One critical challenge is to delineate the constituent elements of

The Role of the Baldwin Effect in the Evolution of Human Musicality.

Science.gov (United States)

Podlipniak, Piotr

2017-01-01

From the biological perspective human musicality is the term referred to as a set of abilities which enable the recognition and production of music. Since music is a complex phenomenon which consists of features that represent different stages of the evolution of human auditory abilities, the question concerning the evolutionary origin of music must focus mainly on music specific properties and their possible biological function or functions. What usually differentiates music from other forms of human sound expressions is a syntactically organized structure based on pitch classes and rhythmic units measured in reference to musical pulse. This structure is an auditory (not acoustical) phenomenon, meaning that it is a human-specific interpretation of sounds achieved thanks to certain characteristics of the nervous system. There is historical and cross-cultural diversity of this structure which indicates that learning is an important part of the development of human musicality. However, the fact that there is no culture without music, the syntax of which is implicitly learned and easily recognizable, suggests that human musicality may be an adaptive phenomenon. If the use of syntactically organized structure as a communicative phenomenon were adaptive it would be only in circumstances in which this structure is recognizable by more than one individual. Therefore, there is a problem to explain the adaptive value of an ability to recognize a syntactically organized structure that appeared accidentally as the result of mutation or recombination in an environment without a syntactically organized structure. The possible solution could be explained by the Baldwin effect in which a culturally invented trait is transformed into an instinctive trait by the means of natural selection. It is proposed that in the beginning musical structure was invented and learned thanks to neural plasticity. Because structurally organized music appeared adaptive (phenotypic adaptation) e

The Role of the Baldwin Effect in the Evolution of Human Musicality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Piotr Podlipniak

2017-10-01

Full Text Available From the biological perspective human musicality is the term referred to as a set of abilities which enable the recognition and production of music. Since music is a complex phenomenon which consists of features that represent different stages of the evolution of human auditory abilities, the question concerning the evolutionary origin of music must focus mainly on music specific properties and their possible biological function or functions. What usually differentiates music from other forms of human sound expressions is a syntactically organized structure based on pitch classes and rhythmic units measured in reference to musical pulse. This structure is an auditory (not acoustical phenomenon, meaning that it is a human-specific interpretation of sounds achieved thanks to certain characteristics of the nervous system. There is historical and cross-cultural diversity of this structure which indicates that learning is an important part of the development of human musicality. However, the fact that there is no culture without music, the syntax of which is implicitly learned and easily recognizable, suggests that human musicality may be an adaptive phenomenon. If the use of syntactically organized structure as a communicative phenomenon were adaptive it would be only in circumstances in which this structure is recognizable by more than one individual. Therefore, there is a problem to explain the adaptive value of an ability to recognize a syntactically organized structure that appeared accidentally as the result of mutation or recombination in an environment without a syntactically organized structure. The possible solution could be explained by the Baldwin effect in which a culturally invented trait is transformed into an instinctive trait by the means of natural selection. It is proposed that in the beginning musical structure was invented and learned thanks to neural plasticity. Because structurally organized music appeared adaptive (phenotypic

Individualized music for dementia: Evolution and application of evidence-based protocol.

Science.gov (United States)

Gerdner, Linda A

2012-04-22

The theory-based intervention of individualized music has been evaluated clinically and empirically leading to advancement and refinement of an evidence-based protocol, currently in its 5th edition. An expanded version of the protocol was written for professional health care providers with a consumer version tailored for family caregivers. The underlying mid-range theory is presented along with a seminal study that was followed by further research in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, France, Sweden, Norway, Japan and Taiwan. Key studies are summarized. Given its efficacy when implemented by research staff, studies have advanced to testing the intervention under real-life conditions when implemented and evaluated by trained nursing assistants in long-term care facilities and visiting family members. In addition, one study evaluated the implementation of music by family members in the home setting. Initial research focused on agitation as the dependent variable with subsequent research indicating a more holistic response such as positive affect, expressed satisfaction, and meaningful interaction with others. The article advances by describing on-line programs designed to train health care professionals in the assessment, implementation and evaluation of individualized music. In addition, Gerdner has written a story for a picture book intended for children and their families (in press). The story models principles of individualized music to elicit positive memories, reduce anxiety and agitation, and promote communication. The article concludes with implications for future research.

Signaling Games and the Evolution of Structure in Language and Music: A Reply to Ravignani and Verhoef (2018) ‡.

Science.gov (United States)

Lumaca, Massimo; Baggio, Giosuè

2018-04-17

In their commentary on our work, Ravignani and Verhoef (2018) raise concerns about two methodological aspects of our experimental paradigm (the signaling game): (1) the use of melodic signals of fixed length and duration, and (2) the fact that signals are endowed with meaning. They argue that music is hardly a semantic system and that our methodological choices may limit the capacity of our paradigm to shed light on the emergence and evolution of a number of putative musical universals. We reply that musical systems are semantic systems and that the aim of our research is not to study musical universals as such, but to compare more closely the kinds of principles that organize meaning and structure in linguistic and musical systems.

Interactive music composition driven by feature evolution.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaliakatsos-Papakostas, Maximos A; Floros, Andreas; Vrahatis, Michael N

2016-01-01

Evolutionary music composition is a prominent technique for automatic music generation. The immense adaptation potential of evolutionary algorithms has allowed the realisation of systems that automatically produce music through feature and interactive-based composition approaches. Feature-based composition employs qualitatively descriptive music features as fitness landmarks. Interactive composition systems on the other hand, derive fitness directly from human ratings and/or selection. The paper at hand introduces a methodological framework that combines the merits of both evolutionary composition methodologies. To this end, a system is presented that is organised in two levels: the higher level of interaction and the lower level of composition. The higher level incorporates the particle swarm optimisation algorithm, along with a proposed variant and evolves musical features according to user ratings. The lower level realizes feature-based music composition with a genetic algorithm, according to the top level features. The aim of this work is not to validate the efficiency of the currently utilised setup in each level, but to examine the convergence behaviour of such a two-level technique in an objective manner. Therefore, an additional novelty in this work concerns the utilisation of artificial raters that guide the system through the space of musical features, allowing the exploration of its convergence characteristics: does the system converge to optimal melodies, is this convergence fast enough for potential human listeners and is the trajectory to convergence "interesting' and "creative" enough? The experimental results reveal that the proposed methodological framework represents a fruitful and robust, novel approach to interactive music composition.

A socio-musical analysis of Ayo Bankole's choral music: Fun Mi N ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... diverse African elements and major features of African music are present in the melody, rhythm and harmony of the vocal work. The paper concluded that Fun Mi N'Ibeji contained both elements of traditional Nigerian music and Western classical music which are employed in expressing the traditional beliefs of the Yoruba ...

Music Makes the World Go Round: The Impact of Musical Training on Non-musical Cognitive Functions-A Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Benz, Sarah; Sellaro, Roberta; Hommel, Bernhard; Colzato, Lorenza S

2015-01-01

Musical training is becoming increasingly popular as a topic for scientific research. Here we review the available studies investigating whether and to which degree musical experience generalizes to cognitive functions unrelated to music abilities in healthy humans. In general, it seems that musical training is associated with enhancing effects, even if sometimes only restricted to the auditory domain, on various cognitive functions spanning from executive control to creativity. We conclude that musical engagement may be a useful cognitive training to promote cognitive enhancement, but more research using longitudinal studies and taking into account individual differences is necessary to determine actual benefits.

Challenges facing theories of music and language co-evolution ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Some of the issues raised include the definition of the term 'music', the status of music as some sort of communicative medium for the expression of emotion, musical meaning, musical universals and grammars, and the issue of empirical evidence from other disciplines. Journal of the Musical Arts in Africa Volume 6 2009, ...

A quantitative approach to evolution of music and philosophy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vieira, Vilson; Fabbri, Renato; Travieso, Gonzalo; Oliveira Jr, Osvaldo N; Costa, Luciano da Fontoura

2012-01-01

The development of new statistical and computational methods is increasingly making it possible to bridge the gap between hard sciences and humanities. In this study, we propose an approach based on a quantitative evaluation of attributes of objects in fields of humanities, from which concepts such as dialectics and opposition are formally defined mathematically. As case studies, we analyzed the temporal evolution of classical music and philosophy by obtaining data for 8 features characterizing the corresponding fields for 7 well-known composers and philosophers, which were treated with multivariate statistics and pattern recognition methods. A bootstrap method was applied to avoid statistical bias caused by the small sample data set, with which hundreds of artificial composers and philosophers were generated, influenced by the 7 names originally chosen. Upon defining indices for opposition, skewness and counter-dialectics, we confirmed the intuitive analysis of historians in that classical music evolved according to a master–apprentice tradition, while in philosophy changes were driven by opposition. Though these case studies were meant only to show the possibility of treating phenomena in humanities quantitatively, including a quantitative measure of concepts such as dialectics and opposition, the results are encouraging for further application of the approach presented here to many other areas, since it is entirely generic. (paper)

Music makes the world go round: The impact of musical training on non-musical cognitive functions—A Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sarah eBenz

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Musical training is becoming increasingly popular as a topic for scientific research. Here we review the available studies investigating whether and to which degree musical experience generalizes to cognitive functions unrelated to music abilities in healthy humans. In general, it seems that musical training is associated with enhancing effects, even if sometimes only restricted to the auditory domain, on various cognitive functions spanning from executive control to creativity. We conclude that musical engagement may be a useful cognitive training to promote cognitive enhancement, but more research using longitudinal studies and taking into account individual differences is necessary to determine actual benefits.

Music and Semiotics: An Experiential Approach to Musical Sense-making

OpenAIRE

Reybrouck, Mark

2017-01-01

This chapter sketches recent evolutions of semiotics as applied to music. Rather than providing merely a historical overview, it focusses mainly on the pragmatic turn in semiotics and the role of sensory experience in the process of musical sense-making. In order to elaborate on this experience, it delves into theoretical groundings of second-order cybernetics, biosemiotics and ecological psychology, which are then applied to the field of music. Much effort is made to provide a broader framew...

Perceived Properties of Parameterised Music for Interactive Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jan Berg

2006-04-01

Full Text Available Traditional implementations of sound and music in interactive contexts have their limitations. One way to overcome these and to expand the possibilities of music is to handle the music in a parameterised form. To better understand the properties of the musical parameters resulting from parameterisation, two experiments were carried out. The first experiment investigated selected parameters' capability to change the music; the second experiment examined how the parameters can contribute to express emotions. From these experiments, it is concluded that users without musical training perform differently from musicians on some of the parameters. There is also a clear association between the parameters and the expressed basic emotions. The paper is concluded with observations on how parameterisation might be used in interactive applications.

Do women prefer more complex music around ovulation?

Science.gov (United States)

Charlton, Benjamin D; Filippi, Piera; Fitch, W Tecumseh

2012-01-01

The evolutionary origins of music are much debated. One theory holds that the ability to produce complex musical sounds might reflect qualities that are relevant in mate choice contexts and hence, that music is functionally analogous to the sexually-selected acoustic displays of some animals. If so, women may be expected to show heightened preferences for more complex music when they are most fertile. Here, we used computer-generated musical pieces and ovulation predictor kits to test this hypothesis. Our results indicate that women prefer more complex music in general; however, we found no evidence that their preference for more complex music increased around ovulation. Consequently, our findings are not consistent with the hypothesis that a heightened preference/bias in women for more complex music around ovulation could have played a role in the evolution of music. We go on to suggest future studies that could further investigate whether sexual selection played a role in the evolution of this universal aspect of human culture.

Do women prefer more complex music around ovulation?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Benjamin D Charlton

Full Text Available The evolutionary origins of music are much debated. One theory holds that the ability to produce complex musical sounds might reflect qualities that are relevant in mate choice contexts and hence, that music is functionally analogous to the sexually-selected acoustic displays of some animals. If so, women may be expected to show heightened preferences for more complex music when they are most fertile. Here, we used computer-generated musical pieces and ovulation predictor kits to test this hypothesis. Our results indicate that women prefer more complex music in general; however, we found no evidence that their preference for more complex music increased around ovulation. Consequently, our findings are not consistent with the hypothesis that a heightened preference/bias in women for more complex music around ovulation could have played a role in the evolution of music. We go on to suggest future studies that could further investigate whether sexual selection played a role in the evolution of this universal aspect of human culture.

Tuvan music and World Music

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maxim V. Chaposhnikov

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The essay presents the author’s observations about the ingression of Tuvan music into the World Music – a niche of world musical culture covering ethnical music traditions. The author has witnessed the rise of interest to traditional musical culture of Tuva and Russia as well as globalization of Tuvan music. He is endeavoring to interpret these changes and reveal their affect on traditional music and xöömei. In the late Soviet period, traditional music in Tuva, like in many republics of the Union, has been as if put on hold. During the Perestroika and national revival processes, traditionalism became of high demand. Symposia and festivals started off in Tuva where amateur participants took the same stage with professionals. Special honor was paid to old masters of xöömei. Scholars started engaging in  discussions about the origins and a role of xöömei and its genres. Хöömei attracted a good deal of market interest from outside Russia. In the late 1980s American scientist and producer T. Levin made first field records of xöömei to be released on a disk. Ethnographic ensemble “Tuva” was established. Later, members of “Tuva” started their own musical bands. Musical programs were compiled as an ethnographic variety show – a principle that the public has been seeking for both in Tuva and abroad. Disks were realeased and artists started active touring in foreign countries. Boosting interest in World Music was marked with hallmark attention to the phenomenon of throat-singing and overtone music, and further evolution of Tuvan music has since been tightly linked to Western musical market. The author traces the peculiarities of such bands as “Huun Huur Tu”, “Yat-Kha”, etc. and remarks that the value of Tuvan music is not only in star performers shining on the Western skies, but in the rise of a stable community of people inspired by Tuvan music and culture, and seeking new ways of aesthetic and spiritual perception of

Relations between Study and Employment: Music Graduates in Puerto Rico

Science.gov (United States)

Latorre, Ileana S.; Lorenzo, Oswaldo

2013-01-01

Higher education programs in Puerto Rico include undergraduate degrees in music, music education, composition, popular music, jazz and Caribbean music, and, most recently, a master’s degree in music education. However, little is known about what music graduates do after concluding college. Do they work in music-related areas? Are they satisfied…

Loud music listening.

Science.gov (United States)

Petrescu, Nicolae

2008-07-01

Over the past four decades, there has been increasing interest in the effects of music listening on hearing. The purpose of this paper is to review published studies that detail the noise levels, the potential effects (e.g. noise-induced hearing loss), and the perceptions of those affected by music exposure in occupational and non-occupational settings. The review employed Medline, PubMed, PsychINFO, and the World Wide Web to find relevant studies in the scientific literature. Considered in this review are 43 studies concerning the currently most significant occupational sources of high-intensity music: rock and pop music playing and employment at music venues, as well as the most significant sources of non-occupational high-intensity music: concerts, dicotheques (clubs), and personal music players. Although all of the activities listed above have the potential for hearing damage, the most serious threat to hearing comes from prolonged exposures to amplified live music (concerts). The review concludes that more research is needed to clarify the hearing loss risks of music exposure from personal music players and that current scientific literature clearly recognizes an unmet hearing health need for more education regarding the risks of loud music exposure and the benefits of wearing hearing protection, for more hearing protection use by those at risk, and for more regulations limiting music intensity levels at music entertainment venues.

DEVELOPMENT TRENDS OF THE CONCERTO FOR VIOLIN AND ORCHESTRA IN THE EUROPEAN MUSIC AND ITS EVOLUTION IN UKRAINE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

LAPTEVA ANNA

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The paper is devoted to the evolution of the solo concerto for violin and orchestra genre in the European music since its origination till the present time. Tracing the genre development trends in almost all European countries, the author comes to the conclusion of the existence of certain regularities in the violin concerto development that are common for various national musical cultures. It enables us to reveal both individual genre peculiarities of the violin concerto and the specific features of the national cultures. Particular attention is paid to the development of the violin concerto in Ukraine.

Evaluating music emotion recognition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sturm, Bob L.

2013-01-01

A fundamental problem with nearly all work in music genre recognition (MGR)is that evaluation lacks validity with respect to the principal goals of MGR. This problem also occurs in the evaluation of music emotion recognition (MER). Standard approaches to evaluation, though easy to implement, do...... not reliably differentiate between recognizing genre or emotion from music, or by virtue of confounding factors in signals (e.g., equalization). We demonstrate such problems for evaluating an MER system, and conclude with recommendations....

Music Learning Based on Computer Software

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Baihui Yan

2017-12-01

Full Text Available In order to better develop and improve students’ music learning, the authors proposed the method of music learning based on computer software. It is still a new field to use computer music software to assist teaching. Hereby, we conducted an in-depth analysis on the computer-enabled music learning and the music learning status in secondary schools, obtaining the specific analytical data. Survey data shows that students have many cognitive problems in the current music classroom, and yet teachers have not found a reasonable countermeasure to them. Against this background, the introduction of computer music software to music learning is a new trial that can not only cultivate the students’ initiatives of music learning, but also enhance their abilities to learn music. Therefore, it is concluded that the computer software based music learning is of great significance to improving the current music learning modes and means.

Music in Contemporary Nigerian Drama: A Functionalist Approach ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

It classifies the basic types of music, and identifies and analyses the various uses to which music is put, in contemporary Nigerian drama. In proving this, it draws on examples of the functions of music from four different Nigerian drama texts. The paper concludes on the submission that music goes a long way in consolidating ...

Cultural Evolution: a case study of Indian music

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Meer, W.

2012-01-01

This paper studies the relations between music, culture and the society which surrounds it, focussing on change as an evolutionary process. The classical music of North India serves as an example, but a similar approach may be applied to other branches of human culture, e.g. science.

What do monkeys' music choices mean?

Science.gov (United States)

Lamont, Alexandra M

2005-08-01

McDermott and Hauser have recently shown that although monkeys show some types of preferences for sound, preferences for music are found only in humans. This suggests that music might be a relatively recent adaptation in human evolution. Here, I focus on the research methods used by McDermott and Hauser, and consider the findings in relation to infancy research and music psychology.

Music and Early Language Acquisition

Science.gov (United States)

Brandt, Anthony; Gebrian, Molly; Slevc, L. Robert

2012-01-01

Language is typically viewed as fundamental to human intelligence. Music, while recognized as a human universal, is often treated as an ancillary ability – one dependent on or derivative of language. In contrast, we argue that it is more productive from a developmental perspective to describe spoken language as a special type of music. A review of existing studies presents a compelling case that musical hearing and ability is essential to language acquisition. In addition, we challenge the prevailing view that music cognition matures more slowly than language and is more difficult; instead, we argue that music learning matches the speed and effort of language acquisition. We conclude that music merits a central place in our understanding of human development. PMID:22973254

Mozart effect, cognitive dissonance, and the pleasure of music.

Science.gov (United States)

Perlovsky, Leonid; Cabanac, Arnaud; Bonniot-Cabanac, Marie-Claude; Cabanac, Michel

2013-05-01

We explore a possibility that the 'Mozart effect' points to a fundamental cognitive function of music. Would such an effect of music be due to the hedonicity, a fundamental dimension of mental experience? The present paper explores a recent hypothesis that music helps to tolerate cognitive dissonances and thus enabled accumulation of knowledge and human cultural evolution. We studied whether the influence of music is related to its hedonicity and whether pleasant or unpleasant music would influence scholarly test performance and cognitive dissonance. Specific hypotheses evaluated in this study are that during a test students experience contradictory cognitions that cause cognitive dissonances. If some music helps to tolerate cognitive dissonances, then first, this music should increase the duration during which participants can tolerate stressful conditions while evaluating test choices. Second, this should result in improved performance. These hypotheses are tentatively confirmed in the reported experiments as the agreeable music was correlated with longer duration of tests under stressful conditions and better performance above that under indifferent or unpleasant music. It follows that music likely performs a fundamental cognitive function explaining the origin and evolution of musical ability that have been considered a mystery. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Analyzing Music Services Positioning Through Qualitative Research

OpenAIRE

Cuadrado, Manuel; Miquel, María José; Montoro, Juan D.

2015-01-01

Information technologies have produced new ways of distributing and consuming music, mainly by youth, in relation to both goods and services. In the case of goods, there has been a dramatic shift from traditional ways of buying and listening to music to new digital platforms. There has also been an evolution in relation to music services. In this sense, live music concerts have been losing their audiences over the past few years, as have music radio stations, in favor of streaming platforms. ...

The origins of music in auditory scene analysis and the roles of evolution and culture in musical creation

OpenAIRE

Trainor, Laurel J.

2015-01-01

Whether music was an evolutionary adaptation that conferred survival advantages or a cultural creation has generated much debate. Consistent with an evolutionary hypothesis, music is unique to humans, emerges early in development and is universal across societies. However, the adaptive benefit of music is far from obvious. Music is highly flexible, generative and changes rapidly over time, consistent with a cultural creation hypothesis. In this paper, it is proposed that much of musical pitch...

What Vowels Can Tell Us about the Evolution of Music

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gertraud Fenk-Oczlon

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Whether music and language evolved independently of each other or whether both evolved from a common precursor remains a hotly debated topic. We here emphasize the role of vowels in the language-music relationship, arguing for a shared heritage of music and speech. Vowels play a decisive role in generating the sound or sonority of syllables, the main vehicles for transporting prosodic information in speech and singing. Timbre is, beyond question, the primary parameter that allows us to discriminate between different vowels, but vowels also have intrinsic pitch, intensity, and duration. There are striking correspondences between the number of vowels and the number of pitches in musical scales across cultures: an upper limit of roughly 12 elements, a lower limit of 2, and a frequency peak at 5–7 elements. Moreover, there is evidence for correspondences between vowels and scales even in specific cultures, e.g., cultures with three vowels tend to have tritonic scales. We report a match between vowel pitch and musical pitch in meaningless syllables of Alpine yodelers, and highlight the relevance of vocal timbre in the music of many non-Western cultures, in which vocal timbre/vowel timbre and musical melody are often intertwined. Studies showing the pivotal role of vowels and their musical qualities in the ontogeny of language and in infant directed speech, will be used as further arguments supporting the hypothesis that music and speech evolved from a common prosodic precursor, where the vowels exhibited both pitch and timbre variations.

The Effect of Preparatory Set on Musical Response in College Students.

Science.gov (United States)

Bartel, Lee R.

1992-01-01

Presents study results on the cognitive-affective response to music as affected by three dimensions of preparatory set. Explores self-perception of musicality, attitude toward style concepts and valuing of music experiences, and beliefs and expectations of music listening. Concludes that perception of musicality, general attitude, style…

New forms of distribution of popular music in contemporary culture

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pedro Buil Tercero

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Current changes in the dissemination of information and transmission technologies have greatly intensified the global distribution of music. Internet has become a great ally for the staging of music thanks to the emergence of various technologies for recording and distribution, supported by new formats, expanding the catalog of messages that the individual can receive through multiple music available and reopening an old debate about the role of music in the cultural universe. The music industry in the digital age, particularly recorded music, is immersed in an unstoppable evolution of the classical paradigms of the market. In this paper we analyze the evolution of the recording industry which is setting a scene of several clashes between the industry itself and other cultural agents who are becoming better positioned to new technologies.

Music Communicates Affects, Not Basic Emotions - A Constructionist Account of Attribution of Emotional Meanings to Music.

Science.gov (United States)

Cespedes-Guevara, Julian; Eerola, Tuomas

2018-01-01

Basic Emotion theory has had a tremendous influence on the affective sciences, including music psychology, where most researchers have assumed that music expressivity is constrained to a limited set of basic emotions. Several scholars suggested that these constrains to musical expressivity are explained by the existence of a shared acoustic code to the expression of emotions in music and speech prosody. In this article we advocate for a shift from this focus on basic emotions to a constructionist account. This approach proposes that the phenomenon of perception of emotions in music arises from the interaction of music's ability to express core affects and the influence of top-down and contextual information in the listener's mind. We start by reviewing the problems with the concept of Basic Emotions, and the inconsistent evidence that supports it. We also demonstrate how decades of developmental and cross-cultural research on music and emotional speech have failed to produce convincing findings to conclude that music expressivity is built upon a set of biologically pre-determined basic emotions. We then examine the cue-emotion consistencies between music and speech, and show how they support a parsimonious explanation, where musical expressivity is grounded on two dimensions of core affect (arousal and valence). Next, we explain how the fact that listeners reliably identify basic emotions in music does not arise from the existence of categorical boundaries in the stimuli, but from processes that facilitate categorical perception, such as using stereotyped stimuli and close-ended response formats, psychological processes of construction of mental prototypes, and contextual information. Finally, we outline our proposal of a constructionist account of perception of emotions in music, and spell out the ways in which this approach is able to make solve past conflicting findings. We conclude by providing explicit pointers about the methodological choices that will be

The efficacy of musical emotions provoked by Mozart's music for the reconciliation of cognitive dissonance.

Science.gov (United States)

Masataka, Nobuo; Perlovsky, Leonid

2012-01-01

Debates on the origin and function of music have a long history. While some scientists argue that music itself plays no adaptive role in human evolution, others suggest that music clearly has an evolutionary role, and point to music's universality. A recent hypothesis suggested that a fundamental function of music has been to help mitigating cognitive dissonance, which is a discomfort caused by holding conflicting cognitions simultaneously. It usually leads to devaluation of conflicting knowledge. Here we provide experimental confirmation of this hypothesis using a classical paradigm known to create cognitive dissonance. Results of our experiment reveal that the exposure to Mozart's music exerted a strongly positive influence upon the performance of young children and served as basis by which they were enabled to reconcile the cognitive dissonance.

Music evolution in the laboratory: Cultural transmission meets neurophysiology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lumaca, Massimo; Ravignani, Andrea; Baggio, G.

2018-01-01

of music transmission. In this paper, we first review some of the most important theoretical and empirical contributions to this area of research. Next, we identify one major current limitation of these studies: the lack of direct neural support for the hypothesis of cognitive adaptation. Finally, we......In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in the biological and cultural origins of music, and specifically in the role played by perceptual and cognitive biases and constraints in shaping core features of musical systems, such as melody, harmony, and rhythm. One proposal originates...... in the language sciences. It holds that aspects of musical systems adapt—gradually, in the course of successive generations—to the structural and functional characteristics of the perceptual and cognitive systems of learners and users of such systems. This view has found some support in laboratory experiments...

Classification of Nigerian Gospel Music Styles | Adedeji | Nigerian ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Gospel music in Nigeria, a distinct christian musical genre on one hand and a part of popular culture on the other has witnessed diverse innovations in the contemporary time; a trend which has led to the evolution of diverse styles. The study of the definitive concepts, historical background and musical qualities of the styles ...

Statistical universals reveal the structures and functions of human music.

Science.gov (United States)

Savage, Patrick E; Brown, Steven; Sakai, Emi; Currie, Thomas E

2015-07-21

Music has been called "the universal language of mankind." Although contemporary theories of music evolution often invoke various musical universals, the existence of such universals has been disputed for decades and has never been empirically demonstrated. Here we combine a music-classification scheme with statistical analyses, including phylogenetic comparative methods, to examine a well-sampled global set of 304 music recordings. Our analyses reveal no absolute universals but strong support for many statistical universals that are consistent across all nine geographic regions sampled. These universals include 18 musical features that are common individually as well as a network of 10 features that are commonly associated with one another. They span not only features related to pitch and rhythm that are often cited as putative universals but also rarely cited domains including performance style and social context. These cross-cultural structural regularities of human music may relate to roles in facilitating group coordination and cohesion, as exemplified by the universal tendency to sing, play percussion instruments, and dance to simple, repetitive music in groups. Our findings highlight the need for scientists studying music evolution to expand the range of musical cultures and musical features under consideration. The statistical universals we identified represent important candidates for future investigation.

Performance of Music Elevates Pain Threshold and Positive Affect: Implications for the Evolutionary Function of Music

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R.I.M. Dunbar

2012-10-01

Full Text Available It is well known that music arouses emotional responses. In addition, it has long been thought to play an important role in creating a sense of community, especially in small scale societies. One mechanism by which it might do this is through the endorphin system, and there is evidence to support this claim. Using pain threshold as an assay for CNS endorphin release, we ask whether it is the auditory perception of music that triggers this effect or the active performance of music. We show that singing, dancing and drumming all trigger endorphin release (indexed by an increase in post-activity pain tolerance in contexts where merely listening to music and low energy musical activities do not. We also confirm that music performance results in elevated positive (but not negative affect. We conclude that it is the active performance of music that generates the endorphin high, not the music itself. We discuss the implications of this in the context of community bonding mechanisms that commonly involve dance and music-making.

Performance of music elevates pain threshold and positive affect: implications for the evolutionary function of music.

Science.gov (United States)

Dunbar, R I M; Kaskatis, Kostas; MacDonald, Ian; Barra, Vinnie

2012-10-22

It is well known that music arouses emotional responses. In addition, it has long been thought to play an important role in creating a sense of community, especially in small scale societies. One mechanism by which it might do this is through the endorphin system, and there is evidence to support this claim. Using pain threshold as an assay for CNS endorphin release, we ask whether it is the auditory perception of music that triggers this effect or the active performance of music. We show that singing, dancing and drumming all trigger endorphin release (indexed by an increase in post-activity pain tolerance) in contexts where merely listening to music and low energy musical activities do not. We also confirm that music performance results in elevated positive (but not negative) affect. We conclude that it is the active performance of music that generates the endorphin high, not the music itself. We discuss the implications of this in the context of community bonding mechanisms that commonly involve dance and music-making.

Music Communicates Affects, Not Basic Emotions – A Constructionist Account of Attribution of Emotional Meanings to Music

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julian Cespedes-Guevara

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Basic Emotion theory has had a tremendous influence on the affective sciences, including music psychology, where most researchers have assumed that music expressivity is constrained to a limited set of basic emotions. Several scholars suggested that these constrains to musical expressivity are explained by the existence of a shared acoustic code to the expression of emotions in music and speech prosody. In this article we advocate for a shift from this focus on basic emotions to a constructionist account. This approach proposes that the phenomenon of perception of emotions in music arises from the interaction of music’s ability to express core affects and the influence of top-down and contextual information in the listener’s mind. We start by reviewing the problems with the concept of Basic Emotions, and the inconsistent evidence that supports it. We also demonstrate how decades of developmental and cross-cultural research on music and emotional speech have failed to produce convincing findings to conclude that music expressivity is built upon a set of biologically pre-determined basic emotions. We then examine the cue-emotion consistencies between music and speech, and show how they support a parsimonious explanation, where musical expressivity is grounded on two dimensions of core affect (arousal and valence. Next, we explain how the fact that listeners reliably identify basic emotions in music does not arise from the existence of categorical boundaries in the stimuli, but from processes that facilitate categorical perception, such as using stereotyped stimuli and close-ended response formats, psychological processes of construction of mental prototypes, and contextual information. Finally, we outline our proposal of a constructionist account of perception of emotions in music, and spell out the ways in which this approach is able to make solve past conflicting findings. We conclude by providing explicit pointers about the methodological

Music Communicates Affects, Not Basic Emotions – A Constructionist Account of Attribution of Emotional Meanings to Music

Science.gov (United States)

Cespedes-Guevara, Julian; Eerola, Tuomas

2018-01-01

Basic Emotion theory has had a tremendous influence on the affective sciences, including music psychology, where most researchers have assumed that music expressivity is constrained to a limited set of basic emotions. Several scholars suggested that these constrains to musical expressivity are explained by the existence of a shared acoustic code to the expression of emotions in music and speech prosody. In this article we advocate for a shift from this focus on basic emotions to a constructionist account. This approach proposes that the phenomenon of perception of emotions in music arises from the interaction of music’s ability to express core affects and the influence of top-down and contextual information in the listener’s mind. We start by reviewing the problems with the concept of Basic Emotions, and the inconsistent evidence that supports it. We also demonstrate how decades of developmental and cross-cultural research on music and emotional speech have failed to produce convincing findings to conclude that music expressivity is built upon a set of biologically pre-determined basic emotions. We then examine the cue-emotion consistencies between music and speech, and show how they support a parsimonious explanation, where musical expressivity is grounded on two dimensions of core affect (arousal and valence). Next, we explain how the fact that listeners reliably identify basic emotions in music does not arise from the existence of categorical boundaries in the stimuli, but from processes that facilitate categorical perception, such as using stereotyped stimuli and close-ended response formats, psychological processes of construction of mental prototypes, and contextual information. Finally, we outline our proposal of a constructionist account of perception of emotions in music, and spell out the ways in which this approach is able to make solve past conflicting findings. We conclude by providing explicit pointers about the methodological choices that will be

Evolution of Tonal Organization in Music Optimizes Neural Mechanisms in Symbolic Encoding of Perceptual Reality. Part-2: Ancient to Seventeenth Century.

Science.gov (United States)

Nikolsky, Aleksey

2016-01-01

This paper reveals the way in which musical pitch works as a peculiar form of cognition that reflects upon the organization of the surrounding world as perceived by majority of music users within a socio-cultural formation. Part-1 of this paper described the origin of tonal organization from verbal speech, its progress from indefinite to definite pitch, and the emergence of two main harmonic orders: heptatonic and pentatonic, each characterized by its own method of handling tension at both domains, of tonal and social organization. Part-2, here, completes the line of historic development from Antiquity to seventeenth century. Vast archeological data is used to identify the perception of music structures that tells apart the temple/palace music of urban civilizations and the folk music of village cultures. The "mega-pitch-set" (MPS) organization is found to constitute the principal contribution of a math-based music theory to a new diatonic order. All ramifications for psychology of music are discussed in detail. "Non-octave hypermode" is identified as a peculiar homogenous type of MPS, typical for plainchant. The origin of chromaticism is thoroughly examined as an earmark of "art-music" that opposes earlier forms of folk music. The role of aesthetic emotions in formation of chromatic alteration is defined. The development of chromatic system is traced throughout history, highlighting its modern implementation in "hemiolic modes." The connection between tonal organization in music and spatial organization in pictorial art is established in the Baroque culture, and then tracked back to prehistoric times. Both are shown to present a form of abstraction of environmental topographic schemes, and music is proposed as the primary medium for its cultivation through the concept of pitch. The comparison of stages of tonal organization and typologies of musical texture is used to define the overall course of tonal evolution. Tonal organization of pitch reflects the culture of

Cognition and the Evolution of Music: Pitfalls and Prospects

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Honing, H.; Ploeger, A.

2012-01-01

What was the role of music in the evolutionary history of human beings? We address this question from the point of view that musicality can be defined as a cognitive trait. Although it has been argued that we will never know how cognitive traits evolved (Lewontin, 1998), we argue that we may know

Affective responses in tamarins elicited by species-specific music

OpenAIRE

Snowdon, Charles T.; Teie, David

2009-01-01

Theories of music evolution agree that human music has an affective influence on listeners. Tests of non-humans provided little evidence of preferences for human music. However, prosodic features of speech (‘motherese’) influence affective behaviour of non-verbal infants as well as domestic animals, suggesting that features of music can influence the behaviour of non-human species. We incorporated acoustical characteristics of tamarin affiliation vocalizations and tamarin threat vocalizations...

The Goals and Effects of Music Listening and Their Relationship to the Strength of Music Preference.

Science.gov (United States)

Schäfer, Thomas

2016-01-01

Individual differences in the strength of music preference are among the most intricate psychological phenomena. While one person gets by very well without music, another person needs to listen to music every day and spends a lot of temporal and financial resources on listening to music, attending concerts, or buying concert tickets. Where do these differences come from? The hypothesis presented in this article is that the strength of music preference is mainly informed by the functions that music fulfills in people's lives (e.g., to regulate emotions, moods, or physiological arousal; to promote self-awareness; to foster social relatedness). Data were collected with a diary study, in which 121 respondents documented the goals they tried to attain and the effects that actually occurred for up to 5 music-listening episodes per day for 10 successive days. As expected, listeners reporting more intense experience of the functional use of music in the past (1) had a stronger intention to listen to music to attain specific goals in specific situations and (2) showed a larger overall strength of music preference. It is concluded that the functional effectiveness of music listening should be incorporated in existing models and frameworks of music preference to produce better predictions of interindividual differences in the strength of music preference. The predictability of musical style/genre preferences is also discussed with regard to the present results.

The Evolution of Technology: Landmarking Australian Secondary School Music

Science.gov (United States)

Crawford, Renée

2014-01-01

This paper will provide an overview of the history of the inclusion of technology in Australian education with a focus on music education. There will be a discussion of some of the arguments for its inclusion and how these may have changed over time. Technology has always been actively present in music and its practice. However, it was through…

Pre-task music improves swimming performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Smirmaul, B P; Dos Santos, R V; Da Silva Neto, L V

2015-12-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of pre-task music on swimming performance and other psychological variables. A randomized counterbalanced within-subjects (experimental and control condition) design was employed. Eighteen regional level male swimmers performed two 200-m freestyle swimming time trials. Participants were exposed to either 5 minutes of self-selected music (pre-task music condition) or 5 minutes of silence (control condition) and, after 1 minute, performed the swimming task. Swimming time was significantly shorter (-1.44%) in the pre-task music condition. Listening to pre-task music increased motivation to perform the swimming task, while arousal remained unchanged. While fatigue increased after the swimming task in both conditions, vigor, ratings of perceived exertion and affective valence were unaltered. It is concluded, for the first time, that pre-task music improves swimming performance.

A MISCELLANY ON INDIAN TRADITIONAL MUSIC

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rauf Kerimov

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Indian music has a very long, unbroken tradition and is an accumulated heritage of centuries. Music in India was popular among all the sections of society and intertwined in life and culture from birth to death. Indian music was formed with the evolution of ancient religious and secular music. The Indian culture absorbed all the best that was brought by other nations in the process of historical development. The Indian music is quite diverse: there are classical instrumental and vocal works and traditional singing of sacred hymns, folk songs and music of different nations. In contrast to the music scholarship, where typically image is a certain regularity, discipline and harmony, beauty of the traditional Indian music in the free improvisation, which is used by the performer. Listening carefully of this music, the man in a new world, a different sounds and explore a different idea of music for himself. The aim of the Indian music, unlike European musical culture define, explore, create and move depths to people's moods. And the Indian instruments is a miracle, that could reflect all these philosophical and aesthetic views. Along with the vocal art, this musical tradition has rich variety of melodic and rhythmic instruments.

Music as a manifestation of life: exploring enactivism and the 'eastern perspective' for music education.

Science.gov (United States)

van der Schyff, Dylan

2015-01-01

The enactive approach to cognition is developed in the context of music and music education. I discuss how this embodied point of view affords a relational and bio-cultural perspective on music that decentres the Western focus on language, symbol and representation as the fundamental arbiters of meaning. I then explore how this 'life-based' approach to cognition and meaning-making offers a welcome alternative to standard Western academic approaches to music education. More specifically, I consider how the enactive perspective may aid in developing deeper ecological understandings of the transformative, extended and interpenetrative nature of the embodied musical mind; and thus help (re)connect students and teachers to the lived experience of their own learning and teaching. Following this, I examine related concepts associated with Buddhist psychology in order to develop possibilities for a contemplative music pedagogy. To conclude, I consider how an enactive-contemplative perspective may help students and teachers awaken to the possibilities of music education as 'ontological education.' That is, through a deeper understanding of 'music as a manifestation of life' rediscover their primordial nature as autopoietic and world-making creatures and thus engage more deeply with musicality as a means of forming richer and more compassionate relationships with their peers, their communities and the 'natural' and cultural worlds they inhabit.

The Goals and Effects of Music Listening and Their Relationship to the Strength of Music Preference.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas Schäfer

Full Text Available Individual differences in the strength of music preference are among the most intricate psychological phenomena. While one person gets by very well without music, another person needs to listen to music every day and spends a lot of temporal and financial resources on listening to music, attending concerts, or buying concert tickets. Where do these differences come from? The hypothesis presented in this article is that the strength of music preference is mainly informed by the functions that music fulfills in people's lives (e.g., to regulate emotions, moods, or physiological arousal; to promote self-awareness; to foster social relatedness. Data were collected with a diary study, in which 121 respondents documented the goals they tried to attain and the effects that actually occurred for up to 5 music-listening episodes per day for 10 successive days. As expected, listeners reporting more intense experience of the functional use of music in the past (1 had a stronger intention to listen to music to attain specific goals in specific situations and (2 showed a larger overall strength of music preference. It is concluded that the functional effectiveness of music listening should be incorporated in existing models and frameworks of music preference to produce better predictions of interindividual differences in the strength of music preference. The predictability of musical style/genre preferences is also discussed with regard to the present results.

The Goals and Effects of Music Listening and Their Relationship to the Strength of Music Preference

Science.gov (United States)

Schäfer, Thomas

2016-01-01

Individual differences in the strength of music preference are among the most intricate psychological phenomena. While one person gets by very well without music, another person needs to listen to music every day and spends a lot of temporal and financial resources on listening to music, attending concerts, or buying concert tickets. Where do these differences come from? The hypothesis presented in this article is that the strength of music preference is mainly informed by the functions that music fulfills in people’s lives (e.g., to regulate emotions, moods, or physiological arousal; to promote self-awareness; to foster social relatedness). Data were collected with a diary study, in which 121 respondents documented the goals they tried to attain and the effects that actually occurred for up to 5 music-listening episodes per day for 10 successive days. As expected, listeners reporting more intense experience of the functional use of music in the past (1) had a stronger intention to listen to music to attain specific goals in specific situations and (2) showed a larger overall strength of music preference. It is concluded that the functional effectiveness of music listening should be incorporated in existing models and frameworks of music preference to produce better predictions of interindividual differences in the strength of music preference. The predictability of musical style/genre preferences is also discussed with regard to the present results. PMID:26985998

One Size Fits All, or What is Music Therapy Theory For?

OpenAIRE

Mary Rykov

2005-01-01

In this writing I explore theory in music therapy opinion, discourse, research and practice. To this end, I define theory and examine factors impinging on music therapy theory and the exchange of information within and beyond music therapy. I contend that we all have theories and that these ideologies-including beliefs, goals and ways of knowing music, music therapy and ourselves-must be shared. I question whether a grand, general theory for music therapy is possible. And I conclude that rath...

Gender and the performance of music

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Desmond C Sergeant

2014-04-01

Full Text Available The study evaluates propositions that have appeared in the literature that music phenomena are gendered. If such propositions are substantive, gendered qualities might be imparted to the musical ‘message’ at any of three stages of the music–communication interchange: the process of composition, its realization into sound by the performer, or superimposed in the course of listener perceptions. Four research hypotheses are identified and relevant literature of music behaviours and perception reviewed. New instruments of measurement were constructed to test the four hypotheses: i two listening sequences each containing 35 extracts from published recordings of compositions of the classical music repertoire, ii four ‘music characteristics’ scales, with polarities defined by verbal descriptors designed to assess the dynamic and emotional valence of the musical extracts featured in the listening sequences. 69 musically trained listeners heard the two sequences and were asked to identify the sex of the performing artist of each musical extract; a second group of 23 listeners evaluated the extracts applying the four music characteristics scales. Results did not support claims that music structures are inherently gendered, nor proposals that performers impart their own-sex-specific qualities to the music. It is concluded that if gendering of music is a reality, the properties are imposed subjectively by the perceiver, and the respective qualities appear to be primarily related to the tempo of the music.

Music: Creativity and Structure Transitions

Science.gov (United States)

Pietrocini, Emanuela

Music, compared to other complex forms of representation, is fundamentally characterized by constant evolution and a dynamic succession of structure reference models. This is without taking into account historical perspective, the analysis of forms and styles, or questions of a semantic nature; the observation rather refers to the phenomenology of the music system. The more abstract a compositional model, the greater the number and frequency of variables that are not assimilated to the reference structure; this "interference" which happens more often than not in an apparently casual manner, modifies the creative process to varying but always substantial degrees: locally, it produces a disturbance in perceptive, formal and structural parameters, resulting more often than not in a synaesthetic experience; globally, on the other hand, it defines the terms of a transition to a new state, in which the relations between elements and components modify the behavior of the entire system from which they originated. It is possible to find examples of this phenomenon in the whole range of musical production, in particular in improvisations, in the use of the Basso Continuo, and in some contrapuntal works of the baroque period, music whose temporal dimension can depart from the limits of mensurability and symmetry to define an open compositional environment in continuous evolution.

Darwin and Spencer on the origin of music: is music the food of love?

Science.gov (United States)

Kleinman, Kim

2015-01-01

Finding an evolutionary explanation for the origins of music serves as a rich test of broader ideas on the emergence of mind and the evolution of mental processes. Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer both offered evolutionary explanations for the origins of music, indicating the importance of the question for these two leading nineteenth-century students of "descent with modification." Their discussion unfolded between the publication of Spencer's "The origin and function of music" in 1857 and Darwin's commentaries on music in The Descent of Man in 1871 with an addendum Spencer offered to his original article in light of Darwin's views. They had conflicting views on the lines of causation, asked differing questions, and had fundamentally different approaches. Their exchange laid the foundation for the discussion among contemporary adaptationists and nonadaptationists and contributed to the thinking of those who argue for Mixed Origins of Music or that it is a Transformative Technology of Mind. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Using social media in music education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Đorđević Marija

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Social networks have become the most popular medium of communication and social interaction. In this paper, an emphasis is placed on the use of social networks in the process of teaching music. The aim of this study was to determine which social networks students used in teaching music together with their teachers, which activities are realized in visiting these internet platforms and to what extent they are motivated to use them when teaching musical subjects. Based on these results it can be concluded that students use social networks Facebook and YouTube in realizing educational content within subjects related to art and music and are sufficiently motivated to work within social networks.

Sad music induces pleasant emotion.

Science.gov (United States)

Kawakami, Ai; Furukawa, Kiyoshi; Katahira, Kentaro; Okanoya, Kazuo

2013-01-01

In general, sad music is thought to cause us to experience sadness, which is considered an unpleasant emotion. As a result, the question arises as to why we listen to sad music if it evokes sadness. One possible answer to this question is that we may actually feel positive emotions when we listen to sad music. This suggestion may appear to be counterintuitive; however, in this study, by dividing musical emotion into perceived emotion and felt emotion, we investigated this potential emotional response to music. We hypothesized that felt and perceived emotion may not actually coincide in this respect: sad music would be perceived as sad, but the experience of listening to sad music would evoke positive emotions. A total of 44 participants listened to musical excerpts and provided data on perceived and felt emotions by rating 62 descriptive words or phrases related to emotions on a scale that ranged from 0 (not at all) to 4 (very much). The results revealed that the sad music was perceived to be more tragic, whereas the actual experiences of the participants listening to the sad music induced them to feel more romantic, more blithe, and less tragic emotions than they actually perceived with respect to the same music. Thus, the participants experienced ambivalent emotions when they listened to the sad music. After considering the possible reasons that listeners were induced to experience emotional ambivalence by the sad music, we concluded that the formulation of a new model would be essential for examining the emotions induced by music and that this new model must entertain the possibility that what we experience when listening to music is vicarious emotion.

Sad music induces pleasant emotion

Science.gov (United States)

Kawakami, Ai; Furukawa, Kiyoshi; Katahira, Kentaro; Okanoya, Kazuo

2013-01-01

In general, sad music is thought to cause us to experience sadness, which is considered an unpleasant emotion. As a result, the question arises as to why we listen to sad music if it evokes sadness. One possible answer to this question is that we may actually feel positive emotions when we listen to sad music. This suggestion may appear to be counterintuitive; however, in this study, by dividing musical emotion into perceived emotion and felt emotion, we investigated this potential emotional response to music. We hypothesized that felt and perceived emotion may not actually coincide in this respect: sad music would be perceived as sad, but the experience of listening to sad music would evoke positive emotions. A total of 44 participants listened to musical excerpts and provided data on perceived and felt emotions by rating 62 descriptive words or phrases related to emotions on a scale that ranged from 0 (not at all) to 4 (very much). The results revealed that the sad music was perceived to be more tragic, whereas the actual experiences of the participants listening to the sad music induced them to feel more romantic, more blithe, and less tragic emotions than they actually perceived with respect to the same music. Thus, the participants experienced ambivalent emotions when they listened to the sad music. After considering the possible reasons that listeners were induced to experience emotional ambivalence by the sad music, we concluded that the formulation of a new model would be essential for examining the emotions induced by music and that this new model must entertain the possibility that what we experience when listening to music is vicarious emotion. PMID:23785342

Musical Emotions: Functions, Origins, Evolution

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

modulated Pavlovian conditioning : Blocking, interstimulus interval, and secondary reinforcement. Applied Optics 1987;26:5015–30. [40] Guttfreund DG. Effects... condition of a hell of unending misery.” [98]. The same appeal to reason as a positive content of music we find 800 years later in Boethius (5 c...this review would be a very boring exercise, if you do not believe that your life has a purpose. It would be more fun to get drunk or high on drugs

Trained Musical Performers' and Musically Untrained College Students' Ability to Discriminate Music Instrument Timbre as a Function of Duration.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnston, Dennis Alan

The purpose of this study was to investigate the ability of trained musicians and musically untrained college students to discriminate music instrument timbre as a function of duration. Specific factors investigated were the thresholds for timbre discrimination as a function of duration, musical ensemble participation as training, and the relative discrimination abilities of vocalists and instrumentalists. The subjects (N = 126) were volunteer college students from intact classes from various disciplines separated into musically untrained college students (N = 43) who had not participated in musical ensembles and trained musicians (N = 83) who had. The musicians were further divided into instrumentalists (N = 51) and vocalists (N = 32). The Method of Constant Stimuli, using a same-different response procedure with 120 randomized, counterbalanced timbre pairs comprised of trumpet, clarinet, or violin, presented in durations of 20 to 100 milliseconds in a sequence of pitches, in two blocks was used for data collection. Complete, complex musical timbres were recorded digitally and presented in a sequence of changing pitches to more closely approximate an actual music listening experience. Under the conditions of this study, it can be concluded that the threshold for timbre discrimination as a function of duration is at or below 20 ms. Even though trained musicians tended to discriminate timbre better than musically untrained college students, musicians cannot discriminate timbre significantly better then those subjects who have not participated in musical ensembles. Additionally, instrumentalists tended to discriminate timbre better than vocalists, but the discrimination is not significantly different. Recommendations for further research include suggestions for a timbre discrimination measurement tool that takes into consideration the multidimensionality of timbre and the relationship of timbre discrimination to timbre source, duration, pitch, and loudness.

Effects of background music on concentration of workers.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Rong-Hwa; Shih, Yi-Nuo

2011-01-01

Background music is a common element in daily living and the workplace. Determination of whether background music affects human work concentration is a relevant concern. Studies have found background music influences human behavior, and this study attempts to understand how background music and listener fondness for types of music affects worker concentration. This study analyzes how different types of background music--and how listeners' degree of preference for the background music--can affect listener concentration in attention testing through Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT). Data were collected from 89 workers. The participants ranged in age between 19 and 28 years old, with an average age of 24 years old. We conclude background music influenced listener attention. This influence has more to do with listener fondness for the music than with type of music. Compared to situations without background music, the likelihood of background music affecting test-taker attention performance is likely to increase with the degree to which the test-taker likes or dislikes the music. It is important not to select music that workers strongly like or dislike when making a selection of background music to avoid negatively affecting worker concentration.

The value of traditional African religious music into liturgy: Lobethal ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2015-06-04

Jun 4, 2015 ... It was concluded that introducing traditional African religious music into Evangelical. Lutheran .... framework of music; the changes occurring through introduction of .... continuity of culture is vital to a smooth transition and thus.

Music evolution in the laboratory: Cultural transmission meets neurophysiology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lumaca, Massimo; Ravignani, Andrea; Baggio, G.

2018-01-01

In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in the biological and cultural origins of music, and specifically in the role played by perceptual and cognitive biases and constraints in shaping core features of musical systems, such as melody, harmony, and rhythm. One proposal originates...... of music transmission. In this paper, we first review some of the most important theoretical and empirical contributions to this area of research. Next, we identify one major current limitation of these studies: the lack of direct neural support for the hypothesis of cognitive adaptation. Finally, we...... discuss a recent experiment in which this issue was addressed using event-related brain potentials (ERPs). We argue that the introduction of neurophysiology in cultural transmission research may provide new insights on the micro-evolutionary origins of forms of variation observed in cultural systems....

On the evolution of the star formation rate function of massive galaxies: constraints at 0.4 MUSIC catalogue

Science.gov (United States)

Fontanot, Fabio; Cristiani, Stefano; Santini, Paola; Fontana, Adriano; Grazian, Andrea; Somerville, Rachel S.

2012-03-01

We study the evolution of the star formation rate function (SFRF) of massive (M★ > 1010 M⊙) galaxies over the 0.4 MUSIC) catalogue, which provides a suitable coverage of the spectral region from 0.3 to 24 ?m and either spectroscopic or photometric redshifts for each object. Individual SFRs have been obtained by combining ultraviolet and 24-?m observations, when the latter were available. For all other sources a 'spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting' SFR estimate has been considered. We then define a stellar mass limited sample, complete in the M★ > 1010 M⊙ range and determine the SFRF using the 1/Vmax algorithm. We thus define simulated galaxy catalogues based on the predictions of three different state-of-the-art semi-analytical models (SAMs) of galaxy formation and evolution, and compare them with the observed SFRF. We show that the theoretical SFRFs are well described by a double power law functional form and its redshift evolution is approximated with high accuracy by a pure evolution of the typical SFR (SFR★). We find good agreement between model predictions and the high-SFR end of the SFRF, when the observational errors on the SFR are taken into account. However, the observational SFRF is characterized by a double-peaked structure, which is absent in its theoretical counterparts. At z > 1.0 the observed SFRF shows a relevant density evolution, which is not reproduced by SAMs, due to the well-known overprediction of intermediate-mass galaxies at z˜ 2. SAMs are thus able to reproduce the most intense SFR events observed in the GOODS-MUSIC sample and their redshift distribution. At the same time, the agreement at the low-SFR end is poor: all models overpredict the space density of SFR ˜ 1 M⊙ yr-1 and no model reproduces the double-peaked shape of the observational SFRF. If confirmed by deeper infrared observations, this discrepancy will provide a key constraint on theoretical modelling of star formation and stellar feedback.

Making music in a group: synchronization and shared experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Overy, Katie

2012-04-01

To consider the full impact of musical learning on the brain, it is important to study the nature of everyday, non-expert forms of musical behavior alongside expert instrumental training. Such informal forms of music making tend to include social interaction, synchronization, body movements, and positive shared experiences. Here, I propose that when designing music intervention programs for scientific purposes, such features may have advantages over instrumental training, depending on the specific research aims, contexts, and measures. With reference to a selection of classroom approaches to music education and to the shared affective motion experience (SAME) model of emotional responses to music, I conclude that group learning may be particularly valuable in music pedagogy. © 2012 New York Academy of Sciences.

THE ROLE OF MARKETING IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE MUSIC INDUSTRY

OpenAIRE

Miroslav Skoro

2013-01-01

This work will consider the development and parameters of the music industry, and present the creative connections between marketing and the music industry in light of world technological advancements. Special emphasis will be placed on defining the music industry of the Republic of Croatia, with respect to the National Classification System in contrast to relative world solutions, especially in light of the imminent entry of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union, as well as, consumer...

Musical Sounds, Motor Resonance, and Detectable Agency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jacques Launay

2015-09-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses the paradox that while human music making evolved and spread in an environment where it could only occur in groups, it is now often apparently an enjoyable asocial phenomenon. Here I argue that music is, by definition, sound that we believe has been in some way organized by a human agent, meaning that listening to any musical sounds can be a social experience. There are a number of distinct mechanisms by which we might associate musical sound with agency. While some of these mechanisms involve learning motor associations with that sound, it is also possible to have a more direct relationship from musical sound to agency, and the relative importance of these potentially independent mechanisms should be further explored. Overall, I conclude that the apparent paradox of solipsistic musical engagement is in fact unproblematic, because the way that we perceive and experience musical sounds is inherently social.

"It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing"– an Alternative Concept for Understanding the Evolution of Dance and Music in Human Beings

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Joachim Richter

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The functions of dance and music in human evolution are a mystery. Current research on the evolution of music has mainly focused on its melodic attribute which would have evolved alongside proto-language. Instead, we propose an alternative conceptual framework which focuses on the co-evolution of rhythm and dance (R&D as intertwined aspects of a multimodal phenomenon characterized by the unity of action and perception. Reviewing the current literature from this viewpoint we propose the hypothesis that R&D have co-evolved long before other musical attributes and (proto-language. Our view is supported by increasing experimental evidence particularly in infants and children: beat is perceived and anticipated already by newborns and rhythm perception depends on body movement. Infants and toddlers spontaneously move to a rhythm irrespective of their cultural background. If this behavior is universal, R&D must have an essential function in human evolution. Conceivable evolutionary functions of R&D include sexual attraction, transmission of mating signals, synchronization of many individuals, social bonding, appeasement of hostile individuals, pre- and extra-verbal communication, improvement of body coordination, as well as pain killing, anti-depressive, and anti-boredom functions. The impulse to dance may have been prepared by the susceptibility of infants to be soothed by rocking. Dance enables embodied individual and collective memorizing; in many cultures R&D are used for entering trance, a base for shamanism and early religions. Rhythm is necessary to codify human speech and dance encompasses gesture. In future studies attention should be paid to which attribute of music is focused and that the close mutual relation between R&D is taken into account. The possible evolutionary functions of dance deserve more attention.

Evolution of Tonal Organization in Music Optimizes Neural Mechanisms in Symbolic Encoding of Perceptual Reality. Part-2: Ancient to 17th century

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Aleksey eNikolsky

2016-03-01

Full Text Available This paper reveals the way in which musical pitch works as a peculiar form of cognition that reflects upon the organization of the surrounding world as perceived by majority of music users within a socio-cultural formation.Part-1 of this paper described the origin of tonal organization from verbal speech, its progress from indefinite to definite pitch, and the emergence of two main harmonic orders: heptatonic and pentatonic, each characterized by its own method of handling tension at both domains, of tonal and social organization. Part-2, here, completes the line of historic development from Antiquity to 17th century. Vast archeological data is used to identify the perception of music structures that tells apart the temple/palace music of urban civilizations and the folk music of village cultures. The mega-pitch-set (MPS organization is found to constitute the principal contribution of a math-based music theory to a new diatonic order. All ramifications for psychology of music are discussed in detail. Non-octave hypermode is identified as a peculiar homogenous type of MPS, typical for plainchant.The origin of chromaticism is thoroughly examined as an earmark of art-music that opposes earlier forms of folk music. The role of aesthetic emotions in formation of chromatic alteration is defined. The development of chromatic system is traced throughout history, highlighting its modern implementation in hemiolic modes.The connection between tonal organization in music and spatial organization in pictorial art is established in the Baroque culture, and then tracked back to prehistoric times. Both are shown to present a form of abstraction of environmental topographic schemes, and music is proposed as the primary medium for its cultivation through the concept of pitch. The comparison of stages of tonal organization and typologies of musical texture is used to define the overall course of tonal evolution. Tonal organization of pitch reflects the culture

The functions of music and their relationship to music preference in India and Germany.

Science.gov (United States)

Schäfer, Thomas; Tipandjan, Arun; Sedlmeier, Peter

2012-01-01

Is the use of music in everyday life a culturally universal phenomenon? And do the functions served by music contribute to the development of music preferences regardless of the listener's cultural background? The present study explored similarities and dissimilarities in the functions of music listening and their relationship to music preferences in two countries with different cultural backgrounds: India as an example of a collectivistic society and Germany as an example of an individualistic society. Respondents were asked to what degree their favorite music serves several functions in their life. The functions were summarized in seven main groups: background entertainment, prompt for memories, diversion, emotion regulation, self-regulation, self-reflection, and social bonding. Results indicate a strong similarity of the functions of people's favorite music for Indian and German listeners. Among the Indians, all of the seven functions were rated as meaningful; among the Germans, this was the case for all functions except emotion regulation. However, a pronounced dissimilarity was found in the predictive power of the functions of music for the strength of music preference, which was much stronger for Germans than for Indians. In India, the functions of music most predictive for music preference were diversion, self-reflection, and social bonding. In Germany, the most predictive functions were emotion regulation, diversion, self-reflection, prompt for memories, and social bonding. It is concluded that potential cultural differences hardly apply to the functional use of music in everyday life, but they do so with respect to the impact of the functions on the development of music preference. The present results are consistent with the assumption that members of a collectivistic society tend to set a higher value on their social and societal integration and their connectedness to each other than do members of individualistic societies.

Scientific perspectives on music therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Hillecke, Thomas; Nickel, Anne; Bolay, Hans Volker

2005-12-01

What needs to be done on the long road to evidence-based music therapy? First of all, an adequate research strategy is required. For this purpose the general methodology for therapy research should be adopted. Additionally, music therapy needs a variety of methods of allied fields to contribute scientific findings, including mathematics, natural sciences, behavioral and social sciences, as well as the arts. Pluralism seems necessary as well as inevitable. At least two major research problems can be identified, however, that make the path stony: the problem of specificity and the problem of eclecticism. Neuroscientific research in music is giving rise to new ideas, perspectives, and methods; they seem to be promising prospects for a possible contribution to a theoretical and empirical scientific foundation for music therapy. Despite the huge heterogeneity of theoretical approaches in music therapy, an integrative model of working ingredients in music therapy is useful as a starting point for empirical studies in order to question what specifically works in music therapy. For this purpose, a heuristic model, consisting of five music therapy working factors (attention modulation, emotion modulation, cognition modulation, behavior modulation, and communication modulation) has been developed by the Center for Music Therapy Research (Viktor Dulger Institute) in Heidelberg. Evidence shows the effectiveness of music therapy for treating certain diseases, but the question of what it is in music therapy that works remains largely unanswered. The authors conclude with some questions to neuroscientists, which we hope may help elucidate relevant aspects of a possible link between the two disciplines.

Gender and the performance of music

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Sergeant, Desmond C.; Himonides, Evangelos

2014-01-01

This study evaluates propositions that have appeared in the literature that music phenomena are gendered. Were they present in the musical “message,” gendered qualities might be imparted at any of three stages of the music–communication interchange: the process of composition, its realization into sound by the performer, or imposed by the listener in the process of perception. The research was designed to obtain empirical evidence to enable evaluation of claims of the presence of gendering at these three stages. Three research hypotheses were identified and relevant literature of music behaviors and perception reviewed. New instruments of measurement were constructed to test the three hypotheses: (i) two listening sequences each containing 35 extracts from published recordings of compositions of the classical music repertoire, (ii) four “music characteristics” scales, with polarities defined by verbal descriptors designed to assess the dynamic and emotional valence of the musical extracts featured in the listening sequences. 69 musically-trained listeners listened to the two sequences and were asked to identify the sex of the performing artist of each musical extract; a second group of 23 listeners evaluated the extracts applying the four music characteristics scales. Results did not support claims that music structures are inherently gendered, nor proposals that performers impart their own-sex-specific qualities to the music. It is concluded that gendered properties are imposed subjectively by the listener, and these are primarily related to the tempo of the music. PMID:24795663

Effect of Majority Consensus on Preferences for Recorded Orchestral and Popular Music.

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Furman, Charles E.; Duke, Robert A.

1988-01-01

Examines group influences regarding music preferences to determine the effect that conformity has on the decision-making process. The study tested participants selections of popular and orchestral excerpts which had altered pitch and/or tempo. Concludes that preferences of music majors regarding orchestral music are not significantly affected by…

Co-evolution between streaming and live music leads a way to the sustainable growth of music industry : Lessons from the US experiences

OpenAIRE

Naveed, Kashif; Watanabe, Chihiro; Neittaanmäki, Pekka

2017-01-01

While digitization of music, particularly streaming services, has gained increasing popularity, it has also led to a steady decline in the revenues of recorded music industry. This is causing strong concern regarding a potential collapse of the music industry comparable to other print media industries such as newspaper and book publishing. However, recent changes in the music industry initiated by a resurgence of the live music industry are giving rise to some expectations for the surviva...

Neural overlap in processing music and speech

Science.gov (United States)

Peretz, Isabelle; Vuvan, Dominique; Lagrois, Marie-Élaine; Armony, Jorge L.

2015-01-01

Neural overlap in processing music and speech, as measured by the co-activation of brain regions in neuroimaging studies, may suggest that parts of the neural circuitries established for language may have been recycled during evolution for musicality, or vice versa that musicality served as a springboard for language emergence. Such a perspective has important implications for several topics of general interest besides evolutionary origins. For instance, neural overlap is an important premise for the possibility of music training to influence language acquisition and literacy. However, neural overlap in processing music and speech does not entail sharing neural circuitries. Neural separability between music and speech may occur in overlapping brain regions. In this paper, we review the evidence and outline the issues faced in interpreting such neural data, and argue that converging evidence from several methodologies is needed before neural overlap is taken as evidence of sharing. PMID:25646513

Physical activity helps to control music performance anxiety.

Science.gov (United States)

Rocha, Sérgio F; Marocolo, Moacir; Corrêa, Elisangela N V; Morato, Gledys S G; da Mota, Gustavo R

2014-06-01

We evaluated if regular physical activity could influence musical performance anxiety (MPA) in college music students. Levels of MPA, as measured with the Kenny MPA Inventory, and a survey about the physical activity habits were obtained from 87 students of music. The results showed that physically active musicians had lower MPA scores (pindependent of gender. We conclude that there is an association between physical activity and minor MPA, and studies with a longitudinal design should be done to explore this important issue.

The complex network of musical tastes

Science.gov (United States)

Buldú, Javier M.; Cano, P.; Koppenberger, M.; Almendral, Juan A.; Boccaletti, S.

2007-06-01

We present an empirical study of the evolution of a social network constructed under the influence of musical tastes. The network is obtained thanks to the selfless effort of a broad community of users who share playlists of their favourite songs with other users. When two songs co-occur in a playlist a link is created between them, leading to a complex network where songs are the fundamental nodes. In this representation, songs in the same playlist could belong to different musical genres, but they are prone to be linked by a certain musical taste (e.g. if songs A and B co-occur in several playlists, an user who likes A will probably like also B). Indeed, playlist collections such as the one under study are the basic material that feeds some commercial music recommendation engines. Since playlists have an input date, we are able to evaluate the topology of this particular complex network from scratch, observing how its characteristic parameters evolve in time. We compare our results with those obtained from an artificial network defined by means of a null model. This comparison yields some insight on the evolution and structure of such a network, which could be used as ground data for the development of proper models. Finally, we gather information that can be useful for the development of music recommendation engines and give some hints about how top-hits appear.

Structures in Sound: Analysis of Classical Music Using the Information Length

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Schuyler Nicholson

2016-07-01

Full Text Available We show that music is represented by fluctuations away from the minimum path through statistical space. Our key idea is to envision music as the evolution of a non-equilibrium system and to construct probability distribution functions (PDFs from musical instrument digital interface (MIDI files of classical compositions. Classical music is then viewed through the lens of generalized position and velocity, based on the Fisher metric. Through these statistical tools we discuss a way to quantitatively discriminate between music and noise.

Music Training and Education Slow the Deterioration of Music Perception Produced by Presbycusis in the Elderly

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Felipe N. Moreno-Gómez

2017-05-01

Full Text Available The perception of music depends on the normal function of the peripheral and central auditory system. Aged subjects without hearing loss have altered music perception, including pitch and temporal features. Presbycusis or age-related hearing loss is a frequent condition in elderly people, produced by neurodegenerative processes that affect the cochlear receptor cells and brain circuits involved in auditory perception. Clinically, presbycusis patients have bilateral high-frequency hearing loss and deteriorated speech intelligibility. Music impairments in presbycusis subjects can be attributed to the normal aging processes and to presbycusis neuropathological changes. However, whether presbycusis further impairs music perception remains controversial. Here, we developed a computerized version of the Montreal battery of evaluation of amusia (MBEA and assessed music perception in 175 Chilean adults aged between 18 and 90 years without hearing complaints and in symptomatic presbycusis patients. We give normative data for MBEA performance in a Latin-American population, showing age and educational effects. In addition, we found that symptomatic presbycusis was the most relevant factor determining global MBEA accuracy in aged subjects. Moreover, we show that melodic impairments in presbycusis individuals were diminished by music training, while the performance in temporal tasks were affected by the educational level and music training. We conclude that music training and education are important factors as they can slow the deterioration of music perception produced by age-related hearing loss.

Music as a manifestation of life: exploring enactivism and the ‘eastern perspective’ for music education

Science.gov (United States)

van der Schyff, Dylan

2015-01-01

The enactive approach to cognition is developed in the context of music and music education. I discuss how this embodied point of view affords a relational and bio-cultural perspective on music that decentres the Western focus on language, symbol and representation as the fundamental arbiters of meaning. I then explore how this ‘life-based’ approach to cognition and meaning-making offers a welcome alternative to standard Western academic approaches to music education. More specifically, I consider how the enactive perspective may aid in developing deeper ecological understandings of the transformative, extended and interpenetrative nature of the embodied musical mind; and thus help (re)connect students and teachers to the lived experience of their own learning and teaching. Following this, I examine related concepts associated with Buddhist psychology in order to develop possibilities for a contemplative music pedagogy. To conclude, I consider how an enactive-contemplative perspective may help students and teachers awaken to the possibilities of music education as ‘ontological education.’ That is, through a deeper understanding of ‘music as a manifestation of life’ rediscover their primordial nature as autopoietic and world-making creatures and thus engage more deeply with musicality as a means of forming richer and more compassionate relationships with their peers, their communities and the ‘natural’ and cultural worlds they inhabit. PMID:25870576

Music Training and Education Slow the Deterioration of Music Perception Produced by Presbycusis in the Elderly.

Science.gov (United States)

Moreno-Gómez, Felipe N; Véliz, Guillermo; Rojas, Marcos; Martínez, Cristián; Olmedo, Rubén; Panussis, Felipe; Dagnino-Subiabre, Alexies; Delgado, Carolina; Delano, Paul H

2017-01-01

The perception of music depends on the normal function of the peripheral and central auditory system. Aged subjects without hearing loss have altered music perception, including pitch and temporal features. Presbycusis or age-related hearing loss is a frequent condition in elderly people, produced by neurodegenerative processes that affect the cochlear receptor cells and brain circuits involved in auditory perception. Clinically, presbycusis patients have bilateral high-frequency hearing loss and deteriorated speech intelligibility. Music impairments in presbycusis subjects can be attributed to the normal aging processes and to presbycusis neuropathological changes. However, whether presbycusis further impairs music perception remains controversial. Here, we developed a computerized version of the Montreal battery of evaluation of amusia (MBEA) and assessed music perception in 175 Chilean adults aged between 18 and 90 years without hearing complaints and in symptomatic presbycusis patients. We give normative data for MBEA performance in a Latin-American population, showing age and educational effects. In addition, we found that symptomatic presbycusis was the most relevant factor determining global MBEA accuracy in aged subjects. Moreover, we show that melodic impairments in presbycusis individuals were diminished by music training, while the performance in temporal tasks were affected by the educational level and music training. We conclude that music training and education are important factors as they can slow the deterioration of music perception produced by age-related hearing loss.

Neural overlap in processing music and speech.

Science.gov (United States)

Peretz, Isabelle; Vuvan, Dominique; Lagrois, Marie-Élaine; Armony, Jorge L

2015-03-19

Neural overlap in processing music and speech, as measured by the co-activation of brain regions in neuroimaging studies, may suggest that parts of the neural circuitries established for language may have been recycled during evolution for musicality, or vice versa that musicality served as a springboard for language emergence. Such a perspective has important implications for several topics of general interest besides evolutionary origins. For instance, neural overlap is an important premise for the possibility of music training to influence language acquisition and literacy. However, neural overlap in processing music and speech does not entail sharing neural circuitries. Neural separability between music and speech may occur in overlapping brain regions. In this paper, we review the evidence and outline the issues faced in interpreting such neural data, and argue that converging evidence from several methodologies is needed before neural overlap is taken as evidence of sharing. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

Developing of Thai Classical Music Ensemble in Rattanakosin Period

OpenAIRE

Pansak Vandee

2013-01-01

The research titled “Developing of Thai Classical Music Ensemble in Rattanakosin Period" aimed 1) to study the history of Thai Classical Music Ensemble in Rattanakosin Period and 2) to analyze changing in each period of Rattanakosin Era. This is the historical and documentary research. The data was collected by in-depth interview those musicians, and academic music experts and field study. The focus group discussion was conducted to analyze and conclude the findings. The research found that t...

The psychological functions of music listening.

Science.gov (United States)

Schäfer, Thomas; Sedlmeier, Peter; Städtler, Christine; Huron, David

2013-01-01

Why do people listen to music? Over the past several decades, scholars have proposed numerous functions that listening to music might fulfill. However, different theoretical approaches, different methods, and different samples have left a heterogeneous picture regarding the number and nature of musical functions. Moreover, there remains no agreement about the underlying dimensions of these functions. Part one of the paper reviews the research contributions that have explicitly referred to musical functions. It is concluded that a comprehensive investigation addressing the basic dimensions underlying the plethora of functions of music listening is warranted. Part two of the paper presents an empirical investigation of hundreds of functions that could be extracted from the reviewed contributions. These functions were distilled to 129 non-redundant functions that were then rated by 834 respondents. Principal component analysis suggested three distinct underlying dimensions: People listen to music to regulate arousal and mood, to achieve self-awareness, and as an expression of social relatedness. The first and second dimensions were judged to be much more important than the third-a result that contrasts with the idea that music has evolved primarily as a means for social cohesion and communication. The implications of these results are discussed in light of theories on the origin and the functionality of music listening and also for the application of musical stimuli in all areas of psychology and for research in music cognition.

The psychological functions of music listening

Science.gov (United States)

Schäfer, Thomas; Sedlmeier, Peter; Städtler, Christine; Huron, David

2013-01-01

Why do people listen to music? Over the past several decades, scholars have proposed numerous functions that listening to music might fulfill. However, different theoretical approaches, different methods, and different samples have left a heterogeneous picture regarding the number and nature of musical functions. Moreover, there remains no agreement about the underlying dimensions of these functions. Part one of the paper reviews the research contributions that have explicitly referred to musical functions. It is concluded that a comprehensive investigation addressing the basic dimensions underlying the plethora of functions of music listening is warranted. Part two of the paper presents an empirical investigation of hundreds of functions that could be extracted from the reviewed contributions. These functions were distilled to 129 non-redundant functions that were then rated by 834 respondents. Principal component analysis suggested three distinct underlying dimensions: People listen to music to regulate arousal and mood, to achieve self-awareness, and as an expression of social relatedness. The first and second dimensions were judged to be much more important than the third—a result that contrasts with the idea that music has evolved primarily as a means for social cohesion and communication. The implications of these results are discussed in light of theories on the origin and the functionality of music listening and also for the application of musical stimuli in all areas of psychology and for research in music cognition. PMID:23964257

Music-Evoked Emotions—Current Studies

Science.gov (United States)

Schaefer, Hans-Eckhardt

2017-01-01

The present study is focused on a review of the current state of investigating music-evoked emotions experimentally, theoretically and with respect to their therapeutic potentials. After a concise historical overview and a schematic of the hearing mechanisms, experimental studies on music listeners and on music performers are discussed, starting with the presentation of characteristic musical stimuli and the basic features of tomographic imaging of emotional activation in the brain, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and positron emission tomography (PET), which offer high spatial resolution in the millimeter range. The progress in correlating activation imaging in the brain to the psychological understanding of music-evoked emotion is demonstrated and some prospects for future research are outlined. Research in psychoneuroendocrinology and molecular markers is reviewed in the context of music-evoked emotions and the results indicate that the research in this area should be intensified. An assessment of studies involving measuring techniques with high temporal resolution down to the 10 ms range, as, e.g., electroencephalography (EEG), event-related brain potentials (ERP), magnetoencephalography (MEG), skin conductance response (SCR), finger temperature, and goose bump development (piloerection) can yield information on the dynamics and kinetics of emotion. Genetic investigations reviewed suggest the heredity transmission of a predilection for music. Theoretical approaches to musical emotion are directed to a unified model for experimental neurological evidence and aesthetic judgment. Finally, the reports on musical therapy are briefly outlined. The study concludes with an outlook on emerging technologies and future research fields. PMID:29225563

Reflections on Music and Propaganda

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Luis Velasco Pufleau

2014-01-01

Full Text Available In general, the concept of propaganda refers to a method as well as the symbolic object mobilized by it. Propaganda equally constitutes a particular type of communication that involves not only the mobilization of objects, but also of discourse, places, acts, and rituals. This essay employs the writings of Max Weber, Paul Ricœur, Jacques Ellul, and Jacques Rancière to analyze propaganda as a particular type of symbolic political dispositif linked to a specific performance and utterance context. I examine humanitarian songs as a propaganda tool in democracy, and show the conditions and the limits of their mobilization through their contextualization. I argue that the link between music and propaganda could be defined as the willingness of a particular power or organized opposition to control the symbolic and emotional dimension of musical works. Through giving the music a meaning in this way, they try to impose a certain social order or to invalidate other possible political configurations of reality. I discuss the contradiction between the specific polysemy of musical works and the fictional construction of reality produced by propaganda, and conclude that the political dimension of music should not necessarily be reduced to the propaganda dispositif. These musical works require consideration of the possibilities offered through fiction in contexts of specific representation, as well as the political dimension of collaborative musical practices.

"It Don't Mean a Thing if It Ain't Got that Swing"- an Alternative Concept for Understanding the Evolution of Dance and Music in Human Beings.

Science.gov (United States)

Richter, Joachim; Ostovar, Roya

2016-01-01

The functions of dance and music in human evolution are a mystery. Current research on the evolution of music has mainly focused on its melodic attribute which would have evolved alongside (proto-)language. Instead, we propose an alternative conceptual framework which focuses on the co-evolution of rhythm and dance (R&D) as intertwined aspects of a multimodal phenomenon characterized by the unity of action and perception. Reviewing the current literature from this viewpoint we propose the hypothesis that R&D have co-evolved long before other musical attributes and (proto-)language. Our view is supported by increasing experimental evidence particularly in infants and children: beat is perceived and anticipated already by newborns and rhythm perception depends on body movement. Infants and toddlers spontaneously move to a rhythm irrespective of their cultural background. The impulse to dance may have been prepared by the susceptibility of infants to be soothed by rocking. Conceivable evolutionary functions of R&D include sexual attraction and transmission of mating signals. Social functions include bonding, synchronization of many individuals, appeasement of hostile individuals, and pre- and extra-verbal communication enabling embodied individual and collective memorizing. In many cultures R&D are used for entering trance, a base for shamanism and early religions. Individual benefits of R&D include improvement of body coordination, as well as painkilling, anti-depressive, and anti-boredom effects. Rhythm most likely paved the way for human speech as supported by studies confirming the overlaps between cognitive and neural resources recruited for language and rhythm. In addition, dance encompasses visual and gestural communication. In future studies attention should be paid to which attribute of music is focused on and that the close mutual relation between R&D is taken into account. The possible evolutionary functions of dance deserve more attention.

Free Improvisation: What It Is, and Why We Should Apply It in Our General Music Classrooms

Science.gov (United States)

Niknafs, Nasim

2013-01-01

Improvisation, the third content standard for the National Standards for Music Education (Music Educators National Conference, 1994), has received less attention from music teachers. This article advocates for more improvisation specifically free improvisation in general music classrooms. The nature of free improvisation, and its evolution in the…

Expressiveness in musical performance: Pedagogic aspect

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Jović Natalija R.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The subject of our research relates to pedagogic aspects of expressive vocal-instrumental musical performance. We intended to examine: (1 how undergraduate students see/conceptualize and evaluate expressiveness in musical performance; (2 whether and how they were trained in the skill of expressive musical performance during their musical training; (3 whether and in which way they rehearse the expressive component of musical performance and interpretation and (4 whether there are any differences regarding gender, age, instrument, department, year of study and years of instrument playing in relation to the group of dependant variables related to expressiveness, tuition and practice. The sample for the research included 82 students of instrumental and theory departments at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade. Psychological and pedagogical aspects of musical expressiveness during vocal-instrumental performance were analyzed. The results show that students highly evaluate expressiveness but its place is secondary compared to mastering technical and tonal requirements. Statistically significant differences were shown regarding gender, age and departments. It can be concluded that there is a potential for the development and enhancement of expressiveness of students if we abandon the traditional view that expressiveness is linked exclusively to talent. The findings indicate that pedagogical work should be directed towards finding purposeful strategies for training individual expressiveness.

Music plus Music Integration: A Model for Music Education Policy Reform That Reflects the Evolution and Success of Arts Integration Practices in 21st Century American Public Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Scripp, Lawrence; Gilbert, Josh

2016-01-01

This article explores the special case of integrative teaching and learning in music as a model for 21st century music education policy reform based on the principles that have evolved out of arts integration research and practices over the past century and informed by the recent rising tide of evidence of music's impact on brain capacity and…

Concluding Address

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Franco Giovannelli

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Before I offcially conclude this workshop - far be it from me to attempt to compete with some concluding remarks already delivered at the meeting with various levels of passion by Gennady Bisnovatyi-Kogan, Giulio Auriemma and Sergio Colafrancesco - I would like to comment on some of the highlights emerging from our fruitful week of discussions about Multifrequency Behaviour of High Energy Cosmic Sources, without any pretension of completeness.

Impaired emotion recognition in music in Parkinson's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

van Tricht, Mirjam J; Smeding, Harriet M M; Speelman, Johannes D; Schmand, Ben A

2010-10-01

Music has the potential to evoke strong emotions and plays a significant role in the lives of many people. Music might therefore be an ideal medium to assess emotion recognition. We investigated emotion recognition in music in 20 patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) and 20 matched healthy volunteers. The role of cognitive dysfunction and other disease characteristics in emotion recognition was also evaluated. We used 32 musical excerpts that expressed happiness, sadness, fear or anger. PD patients were impaired in recognizing fear and anger in music. Fear recognition was associated with executive functions in PD patients and in healthy controls, but the emotion recognition impairments of PD patients persisted after adjusting for executive functioning. We found no differences in the recognition of happy or sad music. Emotion recognition was not related to depressive symptoms, disease duration or severity of motor symptoms. We conclude that PD patients are impaired in recognizing complex emotions in music. Although this impairment is related to executive dysfunction, our findings most likely reflect an additional primary deficit in emotional processing. 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Musical Sound, Instruments, and Equipment

Science.gov (United States)

Photinos, Panos

2017-12-01

'Musical Sound, Instruments, and Equipment' offers a basic understanding of sound, musical instruments and music equipment, geared towards a general audience and non-science majors. The book begins with an introduction of the fundamental properties of sound waves, and the perception of the characteristics of sound. The relation between intensity and loudness, and the relation between frequency and pitch are discussed. The basics of propagation of sound waves, and the interaction of sound waves with objects and structures of various sizes are introduced. Standing waves, harmonics and resonance are explained in simple terms, using graphics that provide a visual understanding. The development is focused on musical instruments and acoustics. The construction of musical scales and the frequency relations are reviewed and applied in the description of musical instruments. The frequency spectrum of selected instruments is explored using freely available sound analysis software. Sound amplification and sound recording, including analog and digital approaches, are discussed in two separate chapters. The book concludes with a chapter on acoustics, the physical factors that affect the quality of the music experience, and practical ways to improve the acoustics at home or small recording studios. A brief technical section is provided at the end of each chapter, where the interested reader can find the relevant physics and sample calculations. These quantitative sections can be skipped without affecting the comprehension of the basic material. Questions are provided to test the reader's understanding of the material. Answers are given in the appendix.

The structure of cross-cultural musical diversity

Science.gov (United States)

Rzeszutek, Tom; Savage, Patrick E.; Brown, Steven

2012-01-01

Human cultural traits, such as languages, musics, rituals and material objects, vary widely across cultures. However, the majority of comparative analyses of human cultural diversity focus on between-culture variation without consideration for within-culture variation. In contrast, biological approaches to genetic diversity, such as the analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) framework, partition genetic diversity into both within- and between-population components. We attempt here for the first time to quantify both components of cultural diversity by applying the AMOVA model to music. By employing this approach with 421 traditional songs from 16 Austronesian-speaking populations, we show that the vast majority of musical variability is due to differences within populations rather than differences between. This demonstrates a striking parallel to the structure of genetic diversity in humans. A neighbour-net analysis of pairwise population musical divergence shows a large amount of reticulation, indicating the pervasive occurrence of borrowing and/or convergent evolution of musical features across populations. PMID:22072606

The structure of cross-cultural musical diversity.

Science.gov (United States)

Rzeszutek, Tom; Savage, Patrick E; Brown, Steven

2012-04-22

Human cultural traits, such as languages, musics, rituals and material objects, vary widely across cultures. However, the majority of comparative analyses of human cultural diversity focus on between-culture variation without consideration for within-culture variation. In contrast, biological approaches to genetic diversity, such as the analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) framework, partition genetic diversity into both within- and between-population components. We attempt here for the first time to quantify both components of cultural diversity by applying the AMOVA model to music. By employing this approach with 421 traditional songs from 16 Austronesian-speaking populations, we show that the vast majority of musical variability is due to differences within populations rather than differences between. This demonstrates a striking parallel to the structure of genetic diversity in humans. A neighbour-net analysis of pairwise population musical divergence shows a large amount of reticulation, indicating the pervasive occurrence of borrowing and/or convergent evolution of musical features across populations.

Narrating the origin of the universe through music: A case study

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Mannone Maria

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Our project is about the synthesis of a musical piece, based on the timeline of the Universe. We can understand music through visual and gestural analogies. In a similar way, popular descriptions of scientific concepts also use external metaphors and visual support to help comprehension. We will use music to describe a topic from astrophysics, the birth and evolution of the Universe. We describe the compositional technique used to create the composition 'Origin,' referring to recent techniques to derive music from tridimensional images and from gestures, under the light of the mathematical theory of music in the context of a narrative.

Influence of musical groove on postural sway.

Science.gov (United States)

Ross, Jessica M; Warlaumont, Anne S; Abney, Drew H; Rigoli, Lillian M; Balasubramaniam, Ramesh

2016-03-01

Timescales of postural fluctuation reflect underlying neuromuscular processes in balance control that are influenced by sensory information and the performance of concurrent cognitive and motor tasks. An open question is how postural fluctuations entrain to complex environmental rhythms, such as in music, which also vary on multiple timescales. Musical groove describes the property of music that encourages auditory-motor synchronization and is used to study voluntary motor entrainment to rhythmic sounds. The influence of groove on balance control mechanisms remains unexplored. We recorded fluctuations in center of pressure (CoP) of standing participants (N = 40) listening to low and high groove music and during quiet stance. We found an effect of musical groove on radial sway variability, with the least amount of variability in the high groove condition. In addition, we observed that groove influenced postural sway entrainment at various temporal scales. For example, with increasing levels of groove, we observed more entrainment to shorter, local timescale rhythmic musical occurrences. In contrast, we observed more entrainment to longer, global timescale features of the music, such as periodicity, with decreasing levels of groove. Finally, musical experience influenced the amount of postural variability and entrainment at local and global timescales. We conclude that groove in music and musical experience can influence the neural mechanisms that govern balance control, and discuss implications of our findings in terms of multiscale sensorimotor coupling. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Fractal based curves in musical creativity: A critical annotation

Science.gov (United States)

Georgaki, Anastasia; Tsolakis, Christos

In this article we examine fractal curves and synthesis algorithms in musical composition and research. First we trace the evolution of different approaches for the use of fractals in music since the 80's by a literature review. Furthermore, we review representative fractal algorithms and platforms that implement them. Properties such as self-similarity (pink noise), correlation, memory (related to the notion of Brownian motion) or non correlation at multiple levels (white noise), can be used to develop hierarchy of criteria for analyzing different layers of musical structure. L-systems can be applied in the modelling of melody in different musical cultures as well as in the investigation of musical perception principles. Finally, we propose a critical investigation approach for the use of artificial or natural fractal curves in systematic musicology.

Words as Music Notation (1998/2012)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bergstrøm-Nielsen, Carl

2012-01-01

The use of verbal notation elements in Western music from the baroque period and onwards is outlined, with examples. Some important examples of Fluxus, Scratch Orchestra and subsequent works are characterised. Two Stockhausen works before the text collections are examined for their different uses...... of verbal elements. From this as well as from the analysis of Stockhausen's text collections (see the articles mentioned at the top of the article) it is concluded that verbal language since 1945 may describe both musical material (parameters) and processes – including game rules and if-then relations...

[The status of music therapy in inpatient child and adolescent psychiatry].

Science.gov (United States)

Stegemann, Thomas; Mauch, Christine; Stein, Vera; Romer, Georg

2008-07-01

Although music therapy is very common in child and adolescent psychiatry, no data are available that describe the working conditions for music therapists or the situation with regard to coverage of the patient population. A cross-sectional questionnaire study in all German hospitals of child and adolescent psychiatry with inpatient treatment programmes (n = 134) collected data on the structure and content of the respective music therapy treatment offered. 63.4% of the hospitals provide music therapy as a method of inpatient psychotherapy (77.7% response rate). This article focuses on the duties, setting, and clientele in music therapy, the available equipment and instruments, and the formation and methodological spectrum of music therapists. In summary, we conclude that music therapists working in child and adolescent psychiatry are well trained and experienced. To strengthen the professional identity of music therapists and to evaluate the efficacy of music therapy further research is needed and professional representation and proofs of efficacy must be emphasized.

“It Don’t Mean a Thing if It Ain’t Got that Swing”– an Alternative Concept for Understanding the Evolution of Dance and Music in Human Beings

Science.gov (United States)

Richter, Joachim; Ostovar, Roya

2016-01-01

The functions of dance and music in human evolution are a mystery. Current research on the evolution of music has mainly focused on its melodic attribute which would have evolved alongside (proto-)language. Instead, we propose an alternative conceptual framework which focuses on the co-evolution of rhythm and dance (R&D) as intertwined aspects of a multimodal phenomenon characterized by the unity of action and perception. Reviewing the current literature from this viewpoint we propose the hypothesis that R&D have co-evolved long before other musical attributes and (proto-)language. Our view is supported by increasing experimental evidence particularly in infants and children: beat is perceived and anticipated already by newborns and rhythm perception depends on body movement. Infants and toddlers spontaneously move to a rhythm irrespective of their cultural background. The impulse to dance may have been prepared by the susceptibility of infants to be soothed by rocking. Conceivable evolutionary functions of R&D include sexual attraction and transmission of mating signals. Social functions include bonding, synchronization of many individuals, appeasement of hostile individuals, and pre- and extra-verbal communication enabling embodied individual and collective memorizing. In many cultures R&D are used for entering trance, a base for shamanism and early religions. Individual benefits of R&D include improvement of body coordination, as well as painkilling, anti-depressive, and anti-boredom effects. Rhythm most likely paved the way for human speech as supported by studies confirming the overlaps between cognitive and neural resources recruited for language and rhythm. In addition, dance encompasses visual and gestural communication. In future studies attention should be paid to which attribute of music is focused on and that the close mutual relation between R&D is taken into account. The possible evolutionary functions of dance deserve more attention. PMID:27774058

The "silent" imprint of musical training.

Science.gov (United States)

Klein, Carina; Liem, Franziskus; Hänggi, Jürgen; Elmer, Stefan; Jäncke, Lutz

2016-02-01

Playing a musical instrument at a professional level is a complex multimodal task requiring information integration between different brain regions supporting auditory, somatosensory, motor, and cognitive functions. These kinds of task-specific activations are known to have a profound influence on both the functional and structural architecture of the human brain. However, until now, it is widely unknown whether this specific imprint of musical practice can still be detected during rest when no musical instrument is used. Therefore, we applied high-density electroencephalography and evaluated whole-brain functional connectivity as well as small-world topologies (i.e., node degree) during resting state in a sample of 15 professional musicians and 15 nonmusicians. As expected, musicians demonstrate increased intra- and interhemispheric functional connectivity between those brain regions that are typically involved in music perception and production, such as the auditory, the sensorimotor, and prefrontal cortex as well as Broca's area. In addition, mean connectivity within this specific network was positively related to musical skill and the total number of training hours. Thus, we conclude that musical training distinctively shapes intrinsic functional network characteristics in such a manner that its signature can still be detected during a task-free condition. Hum Brain Mapp 37:536-546, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Analyzing Music Services Positioning Through Qualitative Research

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Manuel Cuadrado

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Information technologies have produced new ways of distributing and consuming music, mainly by youth, in relation to both goods and services. In the case of goods, there has been a dramatic shift from traditional ways of buying and listening to music to new digital platforms. There has also been an evolution in relation to music services. In this sense, live music concerts have been losing their audiences over the past few years, as have music radio stations, in favor of streaming platforms. Curious about this phenomenon, we conducted an exploratory research in order to analyze how all these services, both traditional and new ones were perceived. Specifically, we aimed to study youth´s assessment of the three most relevant music service categories: music radio stations, digital streaming platforms, and pop-rock music festivals. To do so, we used the projective technique of image association to gather information. The population of the study consisted of individuals between 18 and 25 years of age. Our results, after using content analysis, were poor due to spontaneous recall. Therefore, we duplicated the study, but in a more focus-oriented way. Information gathered this time allowed us not only to better know how all these organizations are positioned but also to obtain a list of descriptors to be used in a subsequent descriptive research study.

Afro-American Music and Dance.

Science.gov (United States)

Floyd, Samuel A., Jr.

1989-01-01

Outlines the concurrent development of Black music and Black dance in the United States, and describes the interaction of the two genres throughout their mutually dependent evolutions. Traces the histories of the dances of African American culture, known collectively as "jazz dance," in relation to ragtime, jazz, and the blues. (AF)

Musical Spirituality: Reflections on Identity and the Ethics of Embodied Aesthetic Experience in/ and the Academy

Science.gov (United States)

Bogdan, Deanne

2003-01-01

Throughout the history of Eastern and Western thought, the spiritual quality of musical experience has been associated with religion or religious experience. The author writes auto biographically and shares the evolution of her own musical spirituality. An inquiry is launched into the relationship between musical spirituality, and her struggle…

La música en la comunicación publicitaria (Music in the advertising communication)

OpenAIRE

Palencia-Lefler, Manuel

2009-01-01

Most of the advertisers communicate their brands, values and ideas betting clearly to music as the most outstanding component of the advertisement soundtrack. To manage the advertising music as an object of study, we should classify and arrange the various musical shapes that are used by the advertising, in order to understand the reasons that composers, agencies and advertisers impose their decisions and so understand the evolution and current status of the advertising music. Spain, as a ...

Musical, visual and cognitive deficits after middle cerebral artery infarction

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Stephanie Rosemann

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The perception of music can be impaired after a stroke. This dysfunction is called amusia and amusia patients often also show deficits in visual abilities, language, memory, learning, and attention. The current study investigated whether deficits in music perception are selective for musical input or generalize to other perceptual abilities. Additionally, we tested the hypothesis that deficits in working memory or attention account for impairments in music perception. Twenty stroke patients with small infarctions in the supply area of the middle cerebral artery were investigated with tests for music and visual perception, categorization, neglect, working memory and attention. Two amusia patients with selective deficits in music perception and pronounced lesions were identified. Working memory and attention deficits were highly correlated across the patient group but no correlation with musical abilities was obtained. Lesion analysis revealed that lesions in small areas of the putamen and globus pallidus were connected to a rhythm perception deficit. We conclude that neither a general perceptual deficit nor a minor domain general deficit can account for impairments in the music perception task. But we find support for the modular organization of the music perception network with brain areas specialized for musical functions as musical deficits were not correlated to any other impairment.

Musical, visual and cognitive deficits after middle cerebral artery infarction.

Science.gov (United States)

Rosemann, Stephanie; Brunner, Freimuth; Kastrup, Andreas; Fahle, Manfred

2017-03-01

The perception of music can be impaired after a stroke. This dysfunction is called amusia and amusia patients often also show deficits in visual abilities, language, memory, learning, and attention. The current study investigated whether deficits in music perception are selective for musical input or generalize to other perceptual abilities. Additionally, we tested the hypothesis that deficits in working memory or attention account for impairments in music perception. Twenty stroke patients with small infarctions in the supply area of the middle cerebral artery were investigated with tests for music and visual perception, categorization, neglect, working memory and attention. Two amusia patients with selective deficits in music perception and pronounced lesions were identified. Working memory and attention deficits were highly correlated across the patient group but no correlation with musical abilities was obtained. Lesion analysis revealed that lesions in small areas of the putamen and globus pallidus were connected to a rhythm perception deficit. We conclude that neither a general perceptual deficit nor a minor domain general deficit can account for impairments in the music perception task. But we find support for the modular organization of the music perception network with brain areas specialized for musical functions as musical deficits were not correlated to any other impairment.

Trends in preference, programming and design of concert halls for symphonic music

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gade, Anders Christian

2008-01-01

This paper discusses the evolution in taste regarding concert hall acoustics and how this can be reflected in the new halls being built today. The clients' and listener's preferences are not only based on listening in existing halls; but also on listening to reproduced music recorded with microph......This paper discusses the evolution in taste regarding concert hall acoustics and how this can be reflected in the new halls being built today. The clients' and listener's preferences are not only based on listening in existing halls; but also on listening to reproduced music recorded...

Music Teachers' Everyday Conceptions of Musicality.

Science.gov (United States)

Brandstrom, Sture

1999-01-01

Investigates music teachers' everyday conceptions of musicality through (1) a pilot study involving music teachers in higher education and (2) interviews with teachers in music teacher education and in compulsory school. Finds in the pilot the categories of musical achievement, musical experience, and musical communication, while the interviews…

The Importance of Aesthetics as a Dimension in Music Therapy Activity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bergstrøm-Nielsen, Carl

2006-01-01

In Unmoderated Discussions [of Voices], I began discussing the aesthetic dimension in music therapy, taking Colin Lee's book The Architecture of Aesthetic Music Therapy as a starting-point. Several students and colleagues took part and contributed with further viewpoints, dealing with the positive...... qualities of the aesthetic dimension for both client and therapist, with the necessary limitation or demarcation of how far the aesthetic view can be taken in music therapy, and with the spiritual (impersonal) aspect of music. Some further thoughts in this article concern the importance of the therapists......' musical craft, of musical structure and the theoretical question of what is the nature of the aesthetic dimension. Mention is made of Stige's articles stressing the necessity of applying new concepts that relate the aesthetic dimension to daily life. It is concluded that we need further discussion...

The Evolution of the Canadian Music Festival Movement as an Instrument of Musical Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Abbott, Eric Oscar

The growth and development of the Canadian music festival movement were traced in this study. Primary sources were minutes of annual conferences of delegates from the various festivals in Canada (1936 to 1968), and minutes covering the beginnings of the festival movement from 1908 to 1925; secondary sources were the Secretary's Handbook and Digest…

The role of music therapy in rehabilitation: improving aphasia and beyond.

Science.gov (United States)

Leonardi, Simona; Cacciola, Alberto; De Luca, Rosaria; Aragona, Bianca; Andronaco, Veronica; Milardi, Demetrio; Bramanti, Placido; Calabrò, Rocco Salvatore

2018-01-01

Music is part of the human nature, and it is also philogenically relevant to language evolution. Language and music are bound together in the enhancement of important social functions, such as communication, cooperation and social cohesion. In the last few years, there has been growing evidence that music and music therapy may improve communication skills (but not only) in different neurological disorders. One of the plausible reasons concerning the rational use of sound and music in neurorehabilitation is the possibility to stimulate brain areas involved in emotional processing and motor control, such as the fronto-parietal network. In this narrative review, we are going to describe the role of music therapy in improving aphasia and other neurological disorders, underlying the reasons why this tool could be effective in rehabilitative settings, especially in individuals affected by stroke.

The role of music in music education research : reflections on musical experience

OpenAIRE

Varkøy, Øivind

2009-01-01

First in this article the role of theories of musicology in music education research is considered. Second, the case in point is examined where the focus of music education research is brought bo bear directly on music education, to wit music. By concentrating on music in music education research, the focus remains firmly on musical experience as a basis of reflection in music education research. The author has chosen to focus in particular on a specific kind of musical experience - more p...

Moving Forward: A Feminist Analysis of Mobile Music Streaming

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ann Werner

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The importance of understanding gender, space and mobility as co-constructed in public space has been emphasized by feminist researchers (Massey 2005, Hanson 2010. And within feminist theory materiality, affect and emotions has been described as central for experienced subjectivity (Ahmed 2012. Music listening while moving through public space has previously been studied as a way of creating a private auditory bubble for the individual (Bull 2000, Cahir and Werner 2013 and in this article feminist theory on emotion (Ahmed 2010 and space (Massey 2005 is employed in order to understand mobile music streaming. More specifically it discusses what can happen when mobile media technology is used to listen to music in public space and investigates interconnectedness of bodies, music, technology and space. The article is based on autoethnographic material of mobile music streaming in public and concludes that a forward movement shaped by happiness is a desired result of mobile music streaming. The valuing of "forward" is critically examined from the point of feminist theory and the failed music listening moments are also discussed in terms of emotion and space.

Brain disorders and the biological role of music.

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, Camilla N; Downey, Laura E; Warren, Jason D

2015-03-01

Despite its evident universality and high social value, the ultimate biological role of music and its connection to brain disorders remain poorly understood. Recent findings from basic neuroscience have shed fresh light on these old problems. New insights provided by clinical neuroscience concerning the effects of brain disorders promise to be particularly valuable in uncovering the underlying cognitive and neural architecture of music and for assessing candidate accounts of the biological role of music. Here we advance a new model of the biological role of music in human evolution and the link to brain disorders, drawing on diverse lines of evidence derived from comparative ethology, cognitive neuropsychology and neuroimaging studies in the normal and the disordered brain. We propose that music evolved from the call signals of our hominid ancestors as a means mentally to rehearse and predict potentially costly, affectively laden social routines in surrogate, coded, low-cost form: essentially, a mechanism for transforming emotional mental states efficiently and adaptively into social signals. This biological role of music has its legacy today in the disordered processing of music and mental states that characterizes certain developmental and acquired clinical syndromes of brain network disintegration. © The Author (2014). Published by Oxford University Press.

Musical creativity and the brain.

Science.gov (United States)

López-González, Mónica; Limb, Charles J

2012-01-01

On the spot, as great jazz performers expertly improvise solo passages, they make immediate decisions about which musical phrases to invent and to play. Researchers, like authors Mónica López-González and Dana Foundation grantee Charles J. Limb, are now using brain imaging to study the neural underpinnings of spontaneous artistic creativity, from jazz riffs to freestyle rap. So far, they have found that brain areas deactivated during improvisation are also at rest during dreaming and meditation, while activated areas include those controlling language and sensorimotor skills. Even with relatively few completed studies, researchers have concluded that musical creativity clearly cannot be tied to just one brain area or process.

Searching for roots of entrainment and joint action in early musical interactions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jessica ePhillips-Silver

2012-02-01

Full Text Available When people play music and dance together, they engage in forms of musical joint action that are often characterized by a shared sense of rhythmic timing and affective state (i.e., temporal and affective entrainment. In order to understand the origins of musical joint action, we propose a model in which entrainment is linked to dual mechanisms (motor resonance and action simulation, which in turn support musical behavior (imitation and complementary joint action. To illustrate this model, we consider two generic forms of joint musical behavior: chorusing and turn-taking. We explore how these common behaviors can be founded on entrainment capacities established early in human development, specifically during musical interactions between infants and their caregivers. If the roots of entrainment are found in early musical interactions which are practiced from childhood into adulthood, then we propose that the rehearsal of advanced musical ensemble skills can be considered to be a refined, mimetic form of temporal and affective entrainment whose evolution begins in infancy.

Effect of different musical tempo on post-exercise recovery in young adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Savitha, D; Mallikarjuna, Reddy N; Rao, Chythra

2010-01-01

The role of music in increasing the exercise performance is well recognised. There is very little information about effect of music on time taken for post exercise recovery. We examined the effect of music and different musical tempo on post exercise recovery time, following treadmill work. 30 volunteers (15 male, 15 female) subjected to isotonic exercise (submaximal treadmill work) on three consecutive days. They were allowed to rest in silence on the first day, rest by hearing slow music on second day and rest with fast music on third day. Parameters such as Pulse rate, blood pressure, rating of perceived exertion (RPE) were measured at predetermined intervals. Repeated measures ANOVA test showed that with slow music, recovery time of systolic blood pressure (SBP) (7.9 +/- 2.5), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (5.5 +/- 3.4) pulse rate recovery (PR) (8.0 +/- 2.3) and recovery from exertion (RPE) (7.7 +/- 2.5) were significantly faster when compared to both no music and fast music. The individual music preference made no significant difference in the relaxation time. The study concluded that music hastens post exercise recovery and slow music has greater relaxation effect than fast or no music, recovery time being independent of the gender and individual music preference.

MUSICAL SPACE AS A WAY OF REFLECTING PUBLIC RELATIONS

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MOZGOT SVETLANA

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The semantic universality of the space category and its relationship with the extra musical experience of the person provides composers an opportunity to model various forms of public relations in music. Being guided by E. Hall’s theory and the four models of communicative space identified by him – intimate, personal, social and public – we make an attempt to define the specific features of these spatial models in music. In this paper, the principles of E. Hall’s theory are for the first time projected on music. The research methods include hermeneutics, inter-disciplinary approach and musicological analysis. The research of the samples of instrumental music written by Scarlatti, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin and Liszt showed the specific features of the intimate space model as the basic isolation of its structure, hierarchy and a special toponymy of the man’s inner world including the invariant steady presence of certain subjects and objects. The research of other spatial models in music shows prospects of conceiving the evolution of music as a special spatial form of reflecting the patterns of public consciousness and society arrangement.

The birth of the blues: how physics underlies music

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gibson, J M

2009-01-01

Art and science have intimate connections, although these are often underappreciated. Western music provides compelling examples. The sensation of harmony and related melodic development are rooted in physical principles that can be understood with simple mathematics. The focus of this review is not the better known acoustics of instruments, but the structure of music itself. The physical basis of the evolution of Western music in the last half millennium is discussed, culminating with the development of the 'blues'. The paper refers to a number of works which expand the connections, and introduces material specific to the development of the 'blues'. Several conclusions are made: (1) that music is axiomatic like mathematics and that to appreciate music fully listeners must learn the axioms; (2) that this learning does not require specific conscious study but relies on a linkage between the creative and quantitative brain and (3) that a key element of the musical 'blues' comes from recreating missing notes on the modern equal temperament scale. The latter is an example of 'art built on artifacts'. Finally, brief reference is made to the value of music as a tool for teaching physics, mathematics and engineering to non-scientists.

Parental Perceptions, Experiences, and Desires of Music Therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Kong, Ha-Kyung; Karahalios, Karrie

2016-01-01

Music therapy (MT) is a therapeutic practice where a therapist uses music to enhance the life quality for their patients. Children have an innate enjoyment of music, making music an effective medium for exploring their potential. In this study, we explore the parental perception of MT through an online survey. Contrary to the public perception that MT only addresses emotional needs, 47 out of 59 parents reported seeing improvements in other areas including behavioral, cognitive, linguistic, and social changes. All but one parent indicated that they would recommend MT to others. The survey results further revealed that even parents of children participating in MT had misconceptions regarding MT, which we describe in the paper. Parents reported inaccessibility and cost as other major limitations surrounding MT adoption. We conclude by discussing how technology solutions could mitigate issues with definition, distance, and cost, while maintaining the benefits of MT.

Development of a Music Therapy Service in an Australian Public Rehabilitation Hospital

OpenAIRE

Jeanette Tamplin

2006-01-01

It is often challenging to find information about the details and development of clinical music therapy programs in other parts of the world. This article addresses a gap in the literature by describing the evolution of a neurological rehabilitation program over the past two years in Melbourne, Australia. After providing some local details on the development of rehabilitation music therapy in this part of the world, a brief rationale is offered for the place of music therapy in clinical rehab...

Evolution of tonal organization in music mirrors symbolic representation of perceptual reality. Part-1: Prehistoric.

Science.gov (United States)

Nikolsky, Aleksey

2015-01-01

This paper reveals the way in which musical pitch works as a peculiar form of cognition that reflects upon the organization of the surrounding world as perceived by majority of music users within a socio-cultural formation. The evidence from music theory, ethnography, archeology, organology, anthropology, psychoacoustics, and evolutionary biology is plotted against experimental evidence. Much of the methodology for this investigation comes from studies conducted within the territory of the former USSR. To date, this methodology has remained solely confined to Russian speaking scholars. A brief overview of pitch-set theory demonstrates the need to distinguish between vertical and horizontal harmony, laying out the framework for virtual music space that operates according to the perceptual laws of tonal gravity. Brought to life by bifurcation of music and speech, tonal gravity passed through eleven discrete stages of development until the onset of tonality in the seventeenth century. Each stage presents its own method of integration of separate musical tones into an auditory-cognitive unity. The theory of "melodic intonation" is set forth as a counterpart to harmonic theory of chords. Notions of tonality, modality, key, diatonicity, chromaticism, alteration, and modulation are defined in terms of their perception, and categorized according to the way in which they have developed historically. Tonal organization in music, and perspective organization in fine arts are explained as products of the same underlying mental process. Music seems to act as a unique medium of symbolic representation of reality through the concept of pitch. Tonal organization of pitch reflects the culture of thinking, adopted as a standard within a community of music users. Tonal organization might be a naturally formed system of optimizing individual perception of reality within a social group and its immediate environment, setting conventional standards of intellectual and emotional

Raising consciousness about the nuclear threat through music

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ungerleider, J.H.

1987-01-01

This dissertation examines the use of music, in particular topical collaborative group song writing, as a tool for raising consciousness about the threat of nuclear war. Consciousness raising is one way to overcome the phenomenon of denial and to increase discussion and social action in response to the nuclear threat. This dissertation measures the impact of a group song writing workshop on developing critical problem-solving in adult groups; it reviews how music is applied in psychological research and clinical work, has been used historically as a tool in social-change movements in America, and is used in the contemporary field of peace education. The perspectives of several theorists who discuss the potential of music to contribute to social change are presented. It is concluded that consciousness about the nuclear threat - in terms of naming and analyzing - can be raised by working with music's potential for developing affective, expressive, and collaborative capabilities in individuals and groups. Potential applications of the group song writing workshop are in schools, with peace organizations, music groups, and in relation to other social issues.

Western classical music development: a statistical analysis of composers similarity, differentiation and evolution.

Science.gov (United States)

Georges, Patrick

2017-01-01

This paper proposes a statistical analysis that captures similarities and differences between classical music composers with the eventual aim to understand why particular composers 'sound' different even if their 'lineages' (influences network) are similar or why they 'sound' alike if their 'lineages' are different. In order to do this we use statistical methods and measures of association or similarity (based on presence/absence of traits such as specific 'ecological' characteristics and personal musical influences) that have been developed in biosystematics, scientometrics, and bibliographic coupling. This paper also represents a first step towards a more ambitious goal of developing an evolutionary model of Western classical music.

MALAY POP: MASS MEDIA HEGEMONY IN INDONESIA POPULAR MUSIC

OpenAIRE

Abdul Aziz Turhan Kariko

2009-01-01

Article discusses the domination of Malay pop music through textual analysis of songs, observation of musical programs, and interviews with important figures. The research data were obtained by library research and analyzed through a critical theory approach to gain an understanding of the text and its effects. The article concludes that Malay pop contains a strong uniformity which may be termed a phenomenon in the context of the culture industry, while also being dominant because of its legi...

An Emerging Theoretical Model of Music Therapy Student Development.

Science.gov (United States)

Dvorak, Abbey L; Hernandez-Ruiz, Eugenia; Jang, Sekyung; Kim, Borin; Joseph, Megan; Wells, Kori E

2017-07-01

Music therapy students negotiate a complex relationship with music and its use in clinical work throughout their education and training. This distinct, pervasive, and evolving relationship suggests a developmental process unique to music therapy. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to create a theoretical model of music therapy students' developmental process, beginning with a study within one large Midwestern university. Participants (N = 15) were music therapy students who completed one 60-minute intensive interview, followed by a 20-minute member check meeting. Recorded interviews were transcribed, analyzed, and coded using open and axial coding. The theoretical model that emerged was a six-step sequential developmental progression that included the following themes: (a) Personal Connection, (b) Turning Point, (c) Adjusting Relationship with Music, (d) Growth and Development, (e) Evolution, and (f) Empowerment. The first three steps are linear; development continues in a cyclical process among the last three steps. As the cycle continues, music therapy students continue to grow and develop their skills, leading to increased empowerment, and more specifically, increased self-efficacy and competence. Further exploration of the model is needed to inform educators' and other key stakeholders' understanding of student needs and concerns as they progress through music therapy degree programs. © the American Music Therapy Association 2017. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

Temporal Processing in Audition: Insights from Music.

Science.gov (United States)

Rajendran, Vani G; Teki, Sundeep; Schnupp, Jan W H

2017-11-03

Music is a curious example of a temporally patterned acoustic stimulus, and a compelling pan-cultural phenomenon. This review strives to bring some insights from decades of music psychology and sensorimotor synchronization (SMS) literature into the mainstream auditory domain, arguing that musical rhythm perception is shaped in important ways by temporal processing mechanisms in the brain. The feature that unites these disparate disciplines is an appreciation of the central importance of timing, sequencing, and anticipation. Perception of musical rhythms relies on an ability to form temporal predictions, a general feature of temporal processing that is equally relevant to auditory scene analysis, pattern detection, and speech perception. By bringing together findings from the music and auditory literature, we hope to inspire researchers to look beyond the conventions of their respective fields and consider the cross-disciplinary implications of studying auditory temporal sequence processing. We begin by highlighting music as an interesting sound stimulus that may provide clues to how temporal patterning in sound drives perception. Next, we review the SMS literature and discuss possible neural substrates for the perception of, and synchronization to, musical beat. We then move away from music to explore the perceptual effects of rhythmic timing in pattern detection, auditory scene analysis, and speech perception. Finally, we review the neurophysiology of general timing processes that may underlie aspects of the perception of rhythmic patterns. We conclude with a brief summary and outlook for future research. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Musical Aptitude Is Associated with AVPR1A-Haplotypes

Science.gov (United States)

Ukkola, Liisa T.; Onkamo, Päivi; Raijas, Pirre; Karma, Kai; Järvelä, Irma

2009-01-01

Artistic creativity forms the basis of music culture and music industry. Composing, improvising and arranging music are complex creative functions of the human brain, which biological value remains unknown. We hypothesized that practicing music is social communication that needs musical aptitude and even creativity in music. In order to understand the neurobiological basis of music in human evolution and communication we analyzed polymorphisms of the arginine vasopressin receptor 1A (AVPR1A), serotonin transporter (SLC6A4), catecol-O-methyltranferase (COMT), dopamin receptor D2 (DRD2) and tyrosine hydroxylase 1 (TPH1), genes associated with social bonding and cognitive functions in 19 Finnish families (n = 343 members) with professional musicians and/or active amateurs. All family members were tested for musical aptitude using the auditory structuring ability test (Karma Music test; KMT) and Carl Seashores tests for pitch (SP) and for time (ST). Data on creativity in music (composing, improvising and/or arranging music) was surveyed using a web-based questionnaire. Here we show for the first time that creative functions in music have a strong genetic component (h2 = .84; composing h2 = .40; arranging h2 = .46; improvising h2 = .62) in Finnish multigenerational families. We also show that high music test scores are significantly associated with creative functions in music (pmusic test scores (COMB) (p = 0.0056; corrected p = 0.0006). AVPR1A haplotype AVR+RS1 further suggested a positive association with ST (p = 0.0038; corrected p = 0.00184) and COMB (p = 0.0083; corrected p = 0.0040) using haplotype-based association test HBAT. The results suggest that the neurobiology of music perception and production is likely to be related to the pathways affecting intrinsic attachment behavior. PMID:19461995

Musical aptitude is associated with AVPR1A-haplotypes.

Science.gov (United States)

Ukkola, Liisa T; Onkamo, Päivi; Raijas, Pirre; Karma, Kai; Järvelä, Irma

2009-05-20

Artistic creativity forms the basis of music culture and music industry. Composing, improvising and arranging music are complex creative functions of the human brain, which biological value remains unknown. We hypothesized that practicing music is social communication that needs musical aptitude and even creativity in music. In order to understand the neurobiological basis of music in human evolution and communication we analyzed polymorphisms of the arginine vasopressin receptor 1A (AVPR1A), serotonin transporter (SLC6A4), catecol-O-methyltranferase (COMT), dopamin receptor D2 (DRD2) and tyrosine hydroxylase 1 (TPH1), genes associated with social bonding and cognitive functions in 19 Finnish families (n = 343 members) with professional musicians and/or active amateurs. All family members were tested for musical aptitude using the auditory structuring ability test (Karma Music test; KMT) and Carl Seashores tests for pitch (SP) and for time (ST). Data on creativity in music (composing, improvising and/or arranging music) was surveyed using a web-based questionnaire. Here we show for the first time that creative functions in music have a strong genetic component (h(2) = .84; composing h(2) = .40; arranging h(2) = .46; improvising h(2) = .62) in Finnish multigenerational families. We also show that high music test scores are significantly associated with creative functions in music (pmusic test scores (COMB) (p = 0.0056; corrected p = 0.0006). AVPR1A haplotype AVR+RS1 further suggested a positive association with ST (p = 0.0038; corrected p = 0.00184) and COMB (p = 0.0083; corrected p = 0.0040) using haplotype-based association test HBAT. The results suggest that the neurobiology of music perception and production is likely to be related to the pathways affecting intrinsic attachment behavior.

Music and the Meeting of Human Minds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alan R. Harvey

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Over tens of thousands of years of human genetic and cultural evolution, many types and varieties of music and language have emerged; however, the fundamental components of each of these modes of communication seem to be common to all human cultures and social groups. In this brief review, rather than focusing on the development of different musical techniques and practices over time, the main issues addressed here concern: (i when, and speculations as to why, modern Homo sapiens evolved musical behaviors, (ii the evolutionary relationship between music and language, and (iii why humans, perhaps unique among all living species, universally continue to possess two complementary but distinct communication streams. Did music exist before language, or vice versa, or was there a common precursor that in some way separated into two distinct yet still overlapping systems when cognitively modern H. sapiens evolved? A number of theories put forward to explain the origin and persistent universality of music are considered, but emphasis is given, supported by recent neuroimaging, physiological, and psychological findings, to the role that music can play in promoting trust, altruistic behavior, social bonding, and cooperation within groups of culturally compatible but not necessarily genetically related humans. It is argued that, early in our history, the unique socializing and harmonizing power of music acted as an essential counterweight to the new and evolving sense of self, to an emerging sense of individuality and mortality that was linked to the development of an advanced cognitive capacity and articulate language capability.

Music and the Meeting of Human Minds.

Science.gov (United States)

Harvey, Alan R

2018-01-01

Over tens of thousands of years of human genetic and cultural evolution, many types and varieties of music and language have emerged; however, the fundamental components of each of these modes of communication seem to be common to all human cultures and social groups. In this brief review, rather than focusing on the development of different musical techniques and practices over time, the main issues addressed here concern: (i) when, and speculations as to why, modern Homo sapiens evolved musical behaviors, (ii) the evolutionary relationship between music and language, and (iii) why humans, perhaps unique among all living species, universally continue to possess two complementary but distinct communication streams. Did music exist before language, or vice versa, or was there a common precursor that in some way separated into two distinct yet still overlapping systems when cognitively modern H. sapiens evolved? A number of theories put forward to explain the origin and persistent universality of music are considered, but emphasis is given, supported by recent neuroimaging, physiological, and psychological findings, to the role that music can play in promoting trust, altruistic behavior, social bonding, and cooperation within groups of culturally compatible but not necessarily genetically related humans. It is argued that, early in our history, the unique socializing and harmonizing power of music acted as an essential counterweight to the new and evolving sense of self, to an emerging sense of individuality and mortality that was linked to the development of an advanced cognitive capacity and articulate language capability.

Measure for measure: curriculum requirements and children's achievement in music education.

Science.gov (United States)

Bond, Trevor; Bond, Marie

2010-01-01

Children in all public primary schools in Queensland, Australia have weekly music lessons designed to develop key musical concepts such as reading, writing, singing and playing simple music notation. Their understanding of basic musical concepts is developed through a blend of kinaesthetic, visual and auditory experiences. In keeping with the pedagogical principles outlined by the Hungarian composer, Zoltan Kodaly, early musical experiences are based in singing well-known children's chants - usually restricted to notes of the pentatonic scale. In order to determine the extent to which primary school children's musical understandings developed in response to these carefully structured developmental learning experiences, the Queensland Primary Music Curriculum was examined to yield a set of over 70 indicators of musical understanding in the areas of rhythm, melody and part-work,the essential skills for choral singing. Data were collected from more than 400 children's attempts at elicited musical performances. Quantitative data analysis procedures derived from the Rasch model for measurement were used to establish the sequence of children's mastery of key musical concepts. Results suggested that while the music curriculum did reflect the general development of musical concepts, the grade allocation for a few concepts needed to be revised. Subsequently, children's performances over several years were also analysed to track the musical achievements of students over time. The empirical evidence confirmed that children's musical development was enhanced by school learning and that indicators can be used to identify both outstanding and atypical development of musical understanding. It was concluded that modest adjustments to the music curriculum might enhance children's learning opportunities in music.

Malay Pop: Mass Media Hegemony in Indonesia Popular Music

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdul Aziz Turhan Kariko

2009-11-01

Full Text Available Article discusses the domination of Malay pop music through textual analysis of songs, observation of musical programs, and interviews with important figures. The research data were obtained by library research and analyzed through a critical theory approach to gain an understanding of the text and its effects. The article concludes that Malay pop contains a strong uniformity which may be termed a phenomenon in the context of the culture industry, while also being dominant because of its legitimacy created by the media. The nature of Malay pop is also very profitable for those participating in it, therefore the spirit of capitalism was also quite dominant in this context. There is also resistance from the indie music movement, and its attempts to fight regressive qualities of music that are legitimized in the mainstream mass media.  

Preservice Music Teachers' Attitudes toward Popular Music in the Music Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Springer, D. Gregory; Gooding, Lori F.

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine preservice music educators' attitudes toward popular music in the music classroom. On a survey instrument designed by the investigators, participants ("N" = 82) rated (a) the effectiveness of popular music in addressing the National Standards for Music Education, (b) the appropriateness of popular…

A bipartite fitness model for online music streaming services

Science.gov (United States)

Pongnumkul, Suchit; Motohashi, Kazuyuki

2018-01-01

This paper proposes an evolution model and an analysis of the behavior of music consumers on online music streaming services. While previous studies have observed power-law degree distributions of usage in online music streaming services, the underlying behavior of users has not been well understood. Users and songs can be described using a bipartite network where an edge exists between a user node and a song node when the user has listened that song. The growth mechanism of bipartite networks has been used to understand the evolution of online bipartite networks Zhang et al. (2013). Existing bipartite models are based on a preferential attachment mechanism László Barabási and Albert (1999) in which the probability that a user listens to a song is proportional to its current popularity. This mechanism does not allow for two types of real world phenomena. First, a newly released song with high quality sometimes quickly gains popularity. Second, the popularity of songs normally decreases as time goes by. Therefore, this paper proposes a new model that is more suitable for online music services by adding fitness and aging functions to the song nodes of the bipartite network proposed by Zhang et al. (2013). Theoretical analyses are performed for the degree distribution of songs. Empirical data from an online streaming service, Last.fm, are used to confirm the degree distribution of the object nodes. Simulation results show improvements from a previous model. Finally, to illustrate the application of the proposed model, a simplified royalty cost model for online music services is used to demonstrate how the changes in the proposed parameters can affect the costs for online music streaming providers. Managerial implications are also discussed.

Interdisciplinarity and Computer Music Modeling and Information Retrieval

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grund, Cynthia M.

2006-01-01

Abstract This paper takes a look at computer music modeling and information retrieval (CMMIR) from the point of view of the humanities with emphasis upon areas relevant to the philosophy of music. The desire for more interdisciplinary research involving CMMIR and the humanities is expressed...... for interdisciplinary work involving CMMIR. The paper concludes with some remarks proffered during a panel discussion which took place near the end of the Pisa conference on September 28, 2006 and in correspondence inspired by this discussion, together with some brief commentary on the same. An earlier, somewhat short...

EyeMusic: Making Music with the Eyes

OpenAIRE

Hornof, Anthony J.; Sato, Linda

2004-01-01

Though musical performers routinely use eye movements to communicate with each other during musical performances, very few performers or composers have used eye tracking devices to direct musical compositions and performances. EyeMusic is a system that uses eye movements as an input to electronic music compositions. The eye movements can directly control the music, or the music can respond to the eyes moving around a visual scene. EyeMusic is implemented so that any composer using established...

The birth of the blues : how physics underlies music.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gibson, J. M.

2009-07-01

Art and science have intimate connections, although these are often underappreciated. Western music provides compelling examples. The sensation of harmony and related melodic development are rooted in physical principles that can be understood with simple mathematics. The focus of this review is not the better known acoustics of instruments, but the structure of music itself. The physical basis of the evolution of Western music in the last half millennium is discussed, culminating with the development of the 'blues'. The paper refers to a number of works which expand the connections, and introduces material specific to the development of the 'blues'. Several conclusions are made: (1) that music is axiomatic like mathematics and that to appreciate music fully listeners must learn the axioms; (2) that this learning does not require specific conscious study but relies on a linkage between the creative and quantitative brain and (3) that a key element of the musical 'blues' comes from recreating missing notes on the modern equal temperament scale. The latter is an example of 'art built on artifacts'. Finally, brief reference is made to the value of music as a tool for teaching physics, mathematics and engineering to non-scientists.

The birth of the blues: how physics underlies music

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gibson, J M [Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 Cass Avenue, Argonne IL 60439 (United States)], E-mail: jmgibson@aps.anl.gov

2009-07-15

Art and science have intimate connections, although these are often underappreciated. Western music provides compelling examples. The sensation of harmony and related melodic development are rooted in physical principles that can be understood with simple mathematics. The focus of this review is not the better known acoustics of instruments, but the structure of music itself. The physical basis of the evolution of Western music in the last half millennium is discussed, culminating with the development of the 'blues'. The paper refers to a number of works which expand the connections, and introduces material specific to the development of the 'blues'. Several conclusions are made: (1) that music is axiomatic like mathematics and that to appreciate music fully listeners must learn the axioms; (2) that this learning does not require specific conscious study but relies on a linkage between the creative and quantitative brain and (3) that a key element of the musical 'blues' comes from recreating missing notes on the modern equal temperament scale. The latter is an example of 'art built on artifacts'. Finally, brief reference is made to the value of music as a tool for teaching physics, mathematics and engineering to non-scientists.

Cardinal Ratzinger’s theory of the biblical art and music

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert Kaczorowski

2005-12-01

Full Text Available In our times Joseph Ratzinger is considered as the greatest theologian among cardinals and the most prominent cardinal among theologians. As a professor of theology, but not only, he wrote many books, e.g. A New Song for the Lord: Faith in Christ and Liturgy Today, where he shows relations between liturgy and music of the church. The article by Robert Kaczorowski tells about Ratzinger’s biblical context of art and music. The author presents the analysis of Ps 47, 8 and the evolution of Hebrew’s word maskil to Greek’s word psalate. Kaczorowski adds that the biblical theory of art and music is still current.

Music and communication in music psychology

OpenAIRE

Cross, Ian Ralph

2014-01-01

There is a general consensus that music is both universal and communicative, and musical dialogue is a key element in much music-therapeutic practice. However, the idea that music is a communicative medium has, to date, received little attention within the cognitive sciences, and the limited amount of research that addresses how and what music communicates has resulted in findings that appear to be of limited relevance to music therapy. This paper will draw on ethnomusicological evidence and ...

Anhedonia to music and mu-opioids: Evidence from the administration of naltrexone

Science.gov (United States)

Mallik, Adiel; Chanda, Mona Lisa; Levitin, Daniel J.

2017-01-01

Music’s universality and its ability to deeply affect emotions suggest an evolutionary origin. Previous investigators have found that naltrexone (NTX), a μ-opioid antagonist, may induce reversible anhedonia, attenuating both positive and negative emotions. The neurochemical basis of musical experience is not well-understood, and the NTX-induced anhedonia hypothesis has not been tested with music. Accordingly, we administered NTX or placebo on two different days in a double-blind crossover study, and assessed participants’ responses to music using both psychophysiological (objective) and behavioral (subjective) measures. We found that both positive and negative emotions were attenuated. We conclude that endogenous opioids are critical to experiencing both positive and negative emotions in music, and that music uses the same reward pathways as food, drug and sexual pleasure. Our findings add to the growing body of evidence for the evolutionary biological substrates of music. PMID:28176798

Music Therapy for Posttraumatic Stress in Adults: A Theoretical Review

Science.gov (United States)

Landis-Shack, Nora; Heinz, Adrienne J.; Bonn-Miller, Marcel O.

2017-01-01

Music therapy has been employed as a therapeutic intervention to facilitate healing across a variety of clinical populations. There is theoretical and empirical evidence to suggest that individuals with trauma exposure and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a condition characterized by enduring symptoms of distressing memory intrusions, avoidance, emotional disturbance, and hyperarousal, may derive benefits from music therapy. The current narrative review describes the practice of music therapy and presents a theoretically-informed assessment and model of music therapy as a tool for addressing symptoms of PTSD. The review also presents key empirical studies that support the theoretical assessment. Social, cognitive, and neurobiological mechanisms (e.g., community building, emotion regulation, increased pleasure, anxiety reduction) that promote music therapy’s efficacy as an adjunctive treatment for individuals with posttraumatic stress are discussed. It is concluded that music therapy may be a useful therapeutic tool to reduce symptoms and improve functioning among individuals with trauma exposure and PTSD, though more rigorous empirical study is required. In addition, music therapy may help foster resilience and engage individuals who struggle with stigma associated with seeking professional help. Practical recommendations for incorporating music therapy into clinical practice are offered along with several suggestions for future research. PMID:29290641

Music Therapy and Music Therapy Research. Response

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Inge Nygaard

2002-01-01

This response to Keynote by Prof. Even Ruud (N)"Music Education and Music Therapy seeks to define these two areas with specific focus on tools and methods for analysis of music as these methods are developed in music therapy. This includes that the music therapist, the music and the client create...

The role of physics in shaping music

Science.gov (United States)

Townsend, Peter

2015-07-01

Physics and technology have played a major role in shaping the development, performance, interpretation and composition of music for many centuries. From the twentieth century, electronics and communications have provided recording and broadcasting that gives access to worldwide music and performers of many musical genres. Early scientific influence came via improved or totally new instruments, plus larger and better concert halls. Instrument examples range from developments of violins or pianos to keyed and valved wood wind and brass that offer chromatic performance. New sounds appeared by inventions of totally new instruments, such as the saxophone or the Theremin, to all the modern electronic influence on keyboards and synthesisers. Electronic variants of guitars are effectively new instruments that have spawned totally original musical styles. All such advances have encouraged more virtuosic performance, larger halls, a wider range of audiences and a consequent demand and ability of composers to meet the new challenges. Despite this immense impact, the role of physics and technology over the last few centuries has mostly been ignored, although it was often greater than any links to arts or culture. Recorded and broadcast music has enhanced our expectations on performance and opened gateways to purely electronically generated sounds, of the now familiar electronic keyboards and synthesisers. This brief review traces some of the highlights in musical evolution that were enabled by physics and technology and their impact on the musical scene. The pattern from the past is clear, and so some of the probable advances in the very near future are also predicted. Many are significant as they will impinge on our appreciation of both current and past music, as well as compositional styles. Mention is made of the difference in sound between live and recorded music and the reasons why none of us ever have precisely the same musical experience twice, even from the same

Five fundamental constraints on theories of the origins of music.

Science.gov (United States)

Merker, Bjorn; Morley, Iain; Zuidema, Willem

2015-03-19

The diverse forms and functions of human music place obstacles in the way of an evolutionary reconstruction of its origins. In the absence of any obvious homologues of human music among our closest primate relatives, theorizing about its origins, in order to make progress, needs constraints from the nature of music, the capacities it engages, and the contexts in which it occurs. Here we propose and examine five fundamental constraints that bear on theories of how music and some of its features may have originated. First, cultural transmission, bringing the formal powers of cultural as contrasted with Darwinian evolution to bear on its contents. Second, generativity, i.e. the fact that music generates infinite pattern diversity by finite means. Third, vocal production learning, without which there can be no human singing. Fourth, entrainment with perfect synchrony, without which there is neither rhythmic ensemble music nor rhythmic dancing to music. And fifth, the universal propensity of humans to gather occasionally to sing and dance together in a group, which suggests a motivational basis endemic to our biology. We end by considering the evolutionary context within which these constraints had to be met in the genesis of human musicality. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

Versions, Dubs and Riddims: Dub and the Transient Dynamics of Jamaican Music

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas Vendryes

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Dub emerged in Jamaica in the early 1970s, and, for a decade, it became a prolific and intensely innovative dimension of Jamaican popular music. Yet, during the mid-1980s, while dub flourished at the international level, influencing popular music in general, the genre of dub declined in popularity in Jamaica. How could this musical innovation, so evidently associated with Jamaica, expand and develop internationally while at the same time decline in Jamaica itself? In this paper, I explore the modalities and evolution of Jamaican music production and consumption. Through a description of the Jamaican music industry context, with reference to individual artists’ paths and a summary of Jamaican dub production, I show that even as the Jamaican music milieu was highly favorable to the emergence of dub, dub proliferated as a genre only by developing ties to a diaspora of international audiences and practitioners.

Concluding remarks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nariai, H.

2007-01-01

This document provides the speech presented by Hideki Nariai on May 2007 at the workshop on transparency of nuclear regulatory activities. It aims to propose concluding remarks concerning nuclear safety and the necessity to be transparent to the general public. (A.L.B.)

Popular Music Genres, Music Producers, and Song Creation in the General Music Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Colquhoun, Shane

2018-01-01

In secondary general music classes, music educators have the opportunity to bridge the gap between the music students' experiences in school and the music they engage with outside of school. According to Williams, nontraditional music students have musical lives outside of school but choose not to participate in traditional ensembles. In this…

Musical aptitude is associated with AVPR1A-haplotypes.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liisa T Ukkola

Full Text Available Artistic creativity forms the basis of music culture and music industry. Composing, improvising and arranging music are complex creative functions of the human brain, which biological value remains unknown. We hypothesized that practicing music is social communication that needs musical aptitude and even creativity in music. In order to understand the neurobiological basis of music in human evolution and communication we analyzed polymorphisms of the arginine vasopressin receptor 1A (AVPR1A, serotonin transporter (SLC6A4, catecol-O-methyltranferase (COMT, dopamin receptor D2 (DRD2 and tyrosine hydroxylase 1 (TPH1, genes associated with social bonding and cognitive functions in 19 Finnish families (n = 343 members with professional musicians and/or active amateurs. All family members were tested for musical aptitude using the auditory structuring ability test (Karma Music test; KMT and Carl Seashores tests for pitch (SP and for time (ST. Data on creativity in music (composing, improvising and/or arranging music was surveyed using a web-based questionnaire. Here we show for the first time that creative functions in music have a strong genetic component (h(2 = .84; composing h(2 = .40; arranging h(2 = .46; improvising h(2 = .62 in Finnish multigenerational families. We also show that high music test scores are significantly associated with creative functions in music (p<.0001. We discovered an overall haplotype association with AVPR1A gene (markers RS1 and RS3 and KMT (p = 0.0008; corrected p = 0.00002, SP (p = 0.0261; corrected p = 0.0072 and combined music test scores (COMB (p = 0.0056; corrected p = 0.0006. AVPR1A haplotype AVR+RS1 further suggested a positive association with ST (p = 0.0038; corrected p = 0.00184 and COMB (p = 0.0083; corrected p = 0.0040 using haplotype-based association test HBAT. The results suggest that the neurobiology of music perception and production is likely to be related to the pathways affecting intrinsic attachment

Music and Music Intervention for Therapeutic Purposes in Patients with Ventilator Support; Gamelan Music Perspective

OpenAIRE

Suhartini Suhartini

2011-01-01

Background: Gamelan music is one of folk music for Javanese people. Several research studies testing the effects of music were conducted in Western countries. The music studies for therapeutic purposes used classical music commonly. Even in Indonesia, some researchers may use that music for therapeutic purposes. This concern article explains the perspective music and music intervention as therapeutic purposes, view with Javanese classical music.Objectives: To explore the evidence of music and...

A Joint Prosodic Origin of Language and Music

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Steven Brown

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Vocal theories of the origin of language rarely make a case for the precursor functions that underlay the evolution of speech. The vocal expression of emotion is unquestionably the best candidate for such a precursor, although most evolutionary models of both language and speech ignore emotion and prosody altogether. I present here a model for a joint prosodic precursor of language and music in which ritualized group-level vocalizations served as the ancestral state. This precursor combined not only affective and intonational aspects of prosody, but also holistic and combinatorial mechanisms of phrase generation. From this common stage, there was a bifurcation to form language and music as separate, though homologous, specializations. This separation of language and music was accompanied by their (reunification in songs with words.

Universal and culture-specific factors in the recognition and performance of musical affect expressions.

Science.gov (United States)

Laukka, Petri; Eerola, Tuomas; Thingujam, Nutankumar S; Yamasaki, Teruo; Beller, Grégory

2013-06-01

We present a cross-cultural study on the performance and perception of affective expression in music. Professional bowed-string musicians from different musical traditions (Swedish folk music, Hindustani classical music, Japanese traditional music, and Western classical music) were instructed to perform short pieces of music to convey 11 emotions and related states to listeners. All musical stimuli were judged by Swedish, Indian, and Japanese participants in a balanced design, and a variety of acoustic and musical cues were extracted. Results first showed that the musicians' expressive intentions could be recognized with accuracy above chance both within and across musical cultures, but communication was, in general, more accurate for culturally familiar versus unfamiliar music, and for basic emotions versus nonbasic affective states. We further used a lens-model approach to describe the relations between the strategies that musicians use to convey various expressions and listeners' perceptions of the affective content of the music. Many acoustic and musical cues were similarly correlated with both the musicians' expressive intentions and the listeners' affective judgments across musical cultures, but the match between musicians' and listeners' uses of cues was better in within-cultural versus cross-cultural conditions. We conclude that affective expression in music may depend on a combination of universal and culture-specific factors.

Music Researchers' Musical Engagement

Science.gov (United States)

Wollner, Clemens; Ginsborg, Jane; Williamon, Aaron

2011-01-01

There is an increasing awareness of the importance of reflexivity across various disciplines, which encourages researchers to scrutinize their research perspectives. In order to contextualize and reflect upon research in music, this study explores the musical background, current level of musical engagement and the listening habits of music…

Rhythmic abilities and musical training in Parkinson's disease: do they help?

Science.gov (United States)

Cochen De Cock, V; Dotov, D G; Ihalainen, P; Bégel, V; Galtier, F; Lebrun, C; Picot, M C; Driss, V; Landragin, N; Geny, C; Bardy, B; Dalla Bella, S

2018-01-01

Rhythmic auditory cues can immediately improve gait in Parkinson's disease. However, this effect varies considerably across patients. The factors associated with this individual variability are not known to date. Patients' rhythmic abilities and musicality (e.g., perceptual and singing abilities, emotional response to music, and musical training) may foster a positive response to rhythmic cues. To examine this hypothesis, we measured gait at baseline and with rhythmic cues in 39 non-demented patients with Parkinson's disease and 39 matched healthy controls. Cognition, rhythmic abilities and general musicality were assessed. A response to cueing was qualified as positive when the stimulation led to a clinically meaningful increase in gait speed. We observed that patients with positive response to cueing ( n  = 17) were more musically trained, aligned more often their steps to the rhythmic cues while walking, and showed better music perception as well as poorer cognitive flexibility than patients with non-positive response ( n  = 22). Gait performance with rhythmic cues worsened in six patients. We concluded that rhythmic and musical skills, which can be modulated by musical training, may increase beneficial effects of rhythmic auditory cueing in Parkinson's disease. Screening patients in terms of musical/rhythmic abilities and musical training may allow teasing apart patients who are likely to benefit from cueing from those who may worsen their performance due to the stimulation.

Cross-cultural perspectives on music and musicality.

Science.gov (United States)

Trehub, Sandra E; Becker, Judith; Morley, Iain

2015-03-19

Musical behaviours are universal across human populations and, at the same time, highly diverse in their structures, roles and cultural interpretations. Although laboratory studies of isolated listeners and music-makers have yielded important insights into sensorimotor and cognitive skills and their neural underpinnings, they have revealed little about the broader significance of music for individuals, peer groups and communities. This review presents a sampling of musical forms and coordinated musical activity across cultures, with the aim of highlighting key similarities and differences. The focus is on scholarly and everyday ideas about music--what it is and where it originates--as well the antiquity of music and the contribution of musical behaviour to ritual activity, social organization, caregiving and group cohesion. Synchronous arousal, action synchrony and imitative behaviours are among the means by which music facilitates social bonding. The commonalities and differences in musical forms and functions across cultures suggest new directions for ethnomusicology, music cognition and neuroscience, and a pivot away from the predominant scientific focus on instrumental music in the Western European tradition. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

Evolving building blocks of rhythm: how human cognition creates music via cultural transmission.

Science.gov (United States)

Ravignani, Andrea; Thompson, Bill; Grossi, Thomas; Delgado, Tania; Kirby, Simon

2018-03-06

Why does musical rhythm have the structure it does? Musical rhythm, in all its cross-cultural diversity, exhibits commonalities across world cultures. Traditionally, music research has been split into two fields. Some scientists focused on musicality, namely the human biocognitive predispositions for music, with an emphasis on cross-cultural similarities. Other scholars investigated music, seen as a cultural product, focusing on the variation in world musical cultures. Recent experiments found deep connections between music and musicality, reconciling these opposing views. Here, we address the question of how individual cognitive biases affect the process of cultural evolution of music. Data from two experiments are analyzed using two complementary techniques. In the experiments, participants hear drumming patterns and imitate them. These patterns are then given to the same or another participant to imitate. The structure of these initially random patterns is tracked along experimental "generations." Frequentist statistics show how participants' biases are amplified by cultural transmission, making drumming patterns more structured. Structure is achieved faster in transmission within rather than between participants. A Bayesian model approximates the motif structures participants learned and created. Our data and models suggest that individual biases for musicality may shape the cultural transmission of musical rhythm. © 2018 New York Academy of Sciences.

The shared neural basis of music and language.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Mengxia; Xu, Miao; Li, Xueting; Chen, Zhencai; Song, Yiying; Liu, Jia

2017-08-15

Human musical ability is proposed to play a key phylogenetical role in the evolution of language, and the similarity of hierarchical structure in music and language has led to considerable speculation about their shared mechanisms. While behavioral and electrophysioglocial studies have revealed associations between music and linguistic abilities, results from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies on their relations are contradictory, possibly because these studies usually treat music or language as single entities without breaking down to their components. Here, we examined the relations between different components of music (i.e., melodic and rhythmic analysis) and language (i.e., semantic and phonological processing) using both behavioral tests and resting-state fMRI. Behaviorally, we found that individuals with music training experiences were better at semantic processing, but not at phonological processing, than those without training. Further correlation analyses showed that semantic processing of language was related to melodic, but not rhythmic, analysis of music. Neurally, we found that performances in both semantic processing and melodic analysis were correlated with spontaneous brain activities in the bilateral precentral gyrus (PCG) and superior temporal plane at the regional level, and with the resting-state functional connectivity of the left PCG with the left supramarginal gyrus and left superior temporal gyrus at the network level. Together, our study revealed the shared spontaneous neural basis of music and language based on the behavioral link between melodic analysis and semantic processing, which possibly relied on a common mechanism of automatic auditory-motor integration. Copyright © 2017 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

How musical are music video game players?

Science.gov (United States)

Pasinski, Amanda C; Hannon, Erin E; Snyder, Joel S

2016-10-01

Numerous studies have shown that formal musical training is associated with sensory, motor, and cognitive advantages in individuals of various ages. However, the nature of the observed differences between musicians and nonmusicians is poorly understood, and little is known about the listening skills of individuals who engage in alternative types of everyday musical activities. Here, we show that people who have frequently played music video games outperform nonmusicians controls on a battery of music perception tests. These findings reveal that enhanced musical aptitude can be found among individuals who play music video games, raising the possibility that music video games could potentially enhance music perception skills in individuals across a broad spectrum of society who are otherwise unable to invest the time and/or money required to learn a musical instrument.

Musical and poetic creativity and epilepsy.

Science.gov (United States)

Hesdorffer, Dale C; Trimble, Michael

2016-04-01

Associations between epilepsy and musical or poetic composition have received little attention. We reviewed the literature on links between poetic and musical skills and epilepsy, limiting this to the Western canon. While several composers were said to have had epilepsy, John Hughes concluded that none of the major classical composers thought to have had epilepsy actually had it. The only composer with epilepsy that we could find was the contemporary composer, Hikari Oe, who has autism and developed epilepsy at age 15years. In his childhood years, his mother found that he had an ability to identify bird sound and keys of songs and began teaching him piano. Hikari is able to compose in his head when his seizures are not severe, but when his seizures worsen, his creativity is lost. Music critics have commented on the simplicity of his musical composition and its monotonous sound. Our failure to find evidence of musical composers with epilepsy finds parallels with poetry where there are virtually no established poets with epilepsy. Those with seizures include Lord George Byron in the setting of terminal illness, Algernon Swinburne who had alcohol-related seizures, Charles Lloyd who had seizures and psychosis, Edward Lear who had childhood onset seizures, and Vachel Lindsay. The possibility that Emily Dickinson had epilepsy is also discussed. It has not been possible to identify great talents with epilepsy who excel in poetic or musical composition. There are few published poets with epilepsy and no great composers. Why is this? Similarities between music and poetry include meter, tone, stress, rhythm, and form, and much poetry is sung with music. It is likely that great musical and poetic compositions demand a greater degree of concentration and memory than is possible in epilepsy, resulting in problems retaining a musical and mathematical structure over time. The lack of association between recognizable neuropsychiatric disorders and these skills is a gateway to

Identifying musical pieces from fMRI data using encoding and decoding models.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoefle, Sebastian; Engel, Annerose; Basilio, Rodrigo; Alluri, Vinoo; Toiviainen, Petri; Cagy, Maurício; Moll, Jorge

2018-02-02

Encoding models can reveal and decode neural representations in the visual and semantic domains. However, a thorough understanding of how distributed information in auditory cortices and temporal evolution of music contribute to model performance is still lacking in the musical domain. We measured fMRI responses during naturalistic music listening and constructed a two-stage approach that first mapped musical features in auditory cortices and then decoded novel musical pieces. We then probed the influence of stimuli duration (number of time points) and spatial extent (number of voxels) on decoding accuracy. Our approach revealed a linear increase in accuracy with duration and a point of optimal model performance for the spatial extent. We further showed that Shannon entropy is a driving factor, boosting accuracy up to 95% for music with highest information content. These findings provide key insights for future decoding and reconstruction algorithms and open new venues for possible clinical applications.

Chaotic Music Generation System Using Music Conductor Gesture

OpenAIRE

Chen, Shuai; Maeda, Yoichiro; Takahashi, Yasutake

2013-01-01

In the research of interactive music generation, we propose a music generation method, that the computer generates the music, under the recognition of human music conductor's gestures.In this research, the generated music is tuned by the recognized gestures for the parameters of the network of chaotic elements in real time. The music conductor's hand motions are detected by Microsoft Kinect in this system. Music theories are embedded in the algorithm, as a result, the generated music will be ...

Music Conductor Gesture Recognized Interactive Music Generation System

OpenAIRE

CHEN, Shuai; MAEDA, Yoichiro; TAKAHASHI, Yasutake

2012-01-01

In the research of interactive music generation, we propose a music generation method, that the computer generates the music automatically, and then the music will be arranged under the human music conductor's gestures, before it outputs to us. In this research, the generated music is processed from chaotic sound, which is generated from the network of chaotic elements in realtime. The music conductor's hand motions are detected by Microsoft Kinect in this system. Music theories are embedded ...

Action in Perception: Prominent Visuo-Motor Functional Symmetry in Musicians during Music Listening.

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Iballa Burunat

Full Text Available Musical training leads to sensory and motor neuroplastic changes in the human brain. Motivated by findings on enlarged corpus callosum in musicians and asymmetric somatomotor representation in string players, we investigated the relationship between musical training, callosal anatomy, and interhemispheric functional symmetry during music listening. Functional symmetry was increased in musicians compared to nonmusicians, and in keyboardists compared to string players. This increased functional symmetry was prominent in visual and motor brain networks. Callosal size did not significantly differ between groups except for the posterior callosum in musicians compared to nonmusicians. We conclude that the distinctive postural and kinematic symmetry in instrument playing cross-modally shapes information processing in sensory-motor cortical areas during music listening. This cross-modal plasticity suggests that motor training affects music perception.

76 FR 31983 - In the Matter of Certain Electronic Devices, Including Mobile Phones, Portable Music Players, and...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-06-02

... Devices, Including Mobile Phones, Portable Music Players, and Computers; Notice of Commission... States after importation of certain electronic devices, including mobile phones, portable music players... rendered asserted claim 5 invalid. The ALJ concluded that an industry exists within the United States that...

Effect of music tempo on exercise performance and heart rate among young adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Thakare, Avinash E; Mehrotra, Ranjeeta; Singh, Ayushi

2017-01-01

Music captures attention, triggers a range of emotions, alters or regulates mood, increases work output, heightens arousal, induces states of higher functioning, reduces inhibitions and encourages rhythmic movement. Music has ergo-genic effect as well, it increases exercise performance, delays fatigue and increases performance and endurance, power and strength. Our study tried to evaluate the effect of music on exercise performance in young untrained subjects. In this study, we tested the effect of music on sub maximal exercise performance time duration in young adults. 25 Male and 25 females were subjected to standard submaximal exercise with and without music. Resting HR and Max. HR during exercise and the exercise time duration was recorded. Total exercise duration in whole group with music (37.12 ± 16.26** min) was significantly greater than exercise duration without music (22.48 ± 10.26 min). Males (42.4 ± 15.6** min) outperformed significantly better than females (31.84 ± 15.48 min). Also, we observed statistically significant higher values of Maximal heart rate with music than without music. But there was no significant correlation between duration of exercise, music and change in Heart rate. We can conclude that Music increases duration of exercise in both sexes and hence endurance.

Umbanda, Music and Music Therapy

OpenAIRE

Gregorio José Pereira de Queiroz

2015-01-01

This article discusses the use of music in religious rites of Umbanda and the possible correlations among the role played by music in this rite and its role in music therapy process, especially in some of its approaches.

Verticality and containment in song and improvisation: an application of schema theory to Nordoff-Robbins music therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Aigen, Kenneth

2009-01-01

This study illustrates the use of a new musicological method for analyzing music in music therapy. It examines two pieces of clinical music through the constructs of schema theory. It begins with an argument for enhanced musical analysis in music therapy as a means of elevating the status of explanation in music therapy. Schema theory is introduced as a means of integrating musical with clinical concerns. Some basic ideas in schema theory are explained and the schemas of VERTICALITY and CONTAINER are presented as central ones in the analysis of music. Two transcriptions-one of a composed song and one of an improvisation-are examined in detail to illustrate how decisions in the temporal, melodic, and harmonic dimensions of the music are linked to specific clinical goals. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of this type of musicological analysis for explanatory theory in music therapy.

The Unifying Strands: Formalism and Gestalt Theory in the Musical Philosophies of Aristoxenus, Descartes, and Meyer

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Amanda N. Staufer

2018-03-01

Full Text Available In every age, philosophers deal with inquiries concerning musical meaning and the effect of music on the listener. Instead of answering the formidable question of musical meaning, this essay demonstrates the parallel aspects of three musical theories from ancient, Enlightenment, and modern times. Using the two criteria of musical formalism and Gestalt Theory, this essay systematically connects the philosophies of Aristoxenus of Tarentum, René Descartes, and Leonard Meyer. Musical formalism holds that music’s nature is innate, self-evident, able to be systematically deduced, and rational. According to formalism, musical meaning is defined by things objectively ‘there’ in the music, musical experience relies on cognition, and music is less a matter of sense than of mind. Gestalt Theory asserts that music is a unified totality—the whole gives meaning to the parts. This project demonstrates that three seemingly dissimilar musical philosophies include and prefigure the same foundational principles, although the theories reach different conclusions about musical meaning. In the research process, this essay utilizes documentary evidence. This essay concludes that the philosophies of Aristoxenus, Descartes, and Meyer are united by tendencies toward musical formalism and strands of the Gestalt view of music.

Wavelets in music analysis and synthesis: timbre analysis and perspectives

Science.gov (United States)

Alves Faria, Regis R.; Ruschioni, Ruggero A.; Zuffo, Joao A.

1996-10-01

Music is a vital element in the process of comprehending the world where we live and interact with. Frequency it exerts a subtle but expressive influence over a society's evolution line. Analysis and synthesis of music and musical instruments has always been associated with forefront technologies available at each period of human history, and there is no surprise in witnessing now the use of digital technologies and sophisticated mathematical tools supporting its development. Fourier techniques have been employed for years as a tool to analyze timbres' spectral characteristics, and re-synthesize them from these extracted parameters. Recently many modern implementations, based on spectral modeling techniques, have been leading to the development of new generations of music synthesizers, capable of reproducing natural sounds with high fidelity, and producing novel timbres as well. Wavelets are a promising tool on the development of new generations of music synthesizers, counting on its advantages over the Fourier techniques in representing non-periodic and transient signals, with complex fine textures, as found in music. In this paper we propose and introduce the use of wavelets addressing its perspectives towards musical applications. The central idea is to investigate the capacities of wavelets in analyzing, extracting features and altering fine timbre components in a multiresolution time- scale, so as to produce high quality synthesized musical sounds.

The Mismatch Negativity: An Indicator of Perception of Regularities in Music

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Xide Yu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This paper reviews music research using Mismatch Negativity (MMN. MMN is a deviation-specific component of auditory event-related potential (EPR, which detects a deviation between a sound and an internal representation (e.g., memory trace. Recent studies have expanded the notion and the paradigms of MMN to higher-order music processing such as those involving short melodies, harmony chord, and music syntax. In this vein, we firstly reviewed the evolution of MMN from sound to music and then mainly compared the differences of MMN features between musicians and nonmusicians, followed by the discussion of the potential roles of the training effect and the natural exposure in MMN. Since MMN can serve as an index of neural plasticity, it thus can be widely used in clinical and other applied areas, such as detecting music preference in newborns or assessing wholeness of central auditory system of hearing illness. Finally, we pointed out some open questions and further directions. Current music perception research using MMN has mainly focused on relatively low hierarchical structure of music perception. To fully understand the neural substrates underlying processing of regularities in music, it is important and beneficial to combine MMN with other experimental paradigms such as early right-anterior negativity (ERAN.

The Mismatch Negativity: An Indicator of Perception of Regularities in Music.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Xide; Liu, Tao; Gao, Dingguo

2015-01-01

This paper reviews music research using Mismatch Negativity (MMN). MMN is a deviation-specific component of auditory event-related potential (EPR), which detects a deviation between a sound and an internal representation (e.g., memory trace). Recent studies have expanded the notion and the paradigms of MMN to higher-order music processing such as those involving short melodies, harmony chord, and music syntax. In this vein, we firstly reviewed the evolution of MMN from sound to music and then mainly compared the differences of MMN features between musicians and nonmusicians, followed by the discussion of the potential roles of the training effect and the natural exposure in MMN. Since MMN can serve as an index of neural plasticity, it thus can be widely used in clinical and other applied areas, such as detecting music preference in newborns or assessing wholeness of central auditory system of hearing illness. Finally, we pointed out some open questions and further directions. Current music perception research using MMN has mainly focused on relatively low hierarchical structure of music perception. To fully understand the neural substrates underlying processing of regularities in music, it is important and beneficial to combine MMN with other experimental paradigms such as early right-anterior negativity (ERAN).

Music and language: relations and disconnections.

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Kraus, Nina; Slater, Jessica

2015-01-01

Music and language provide an important context in which to understand the human auditory system. While they perform distinct and complementary communicative functions, music and language are both rooted in the human desire to connect with others. Since sensory function is ultimately shaped by what is biologically important to the organism, the human urge to communicate has been a powerful driving force in both the evolution of auditory function and the ways in which it can be changed by experience within an individual lifetime. This chapter emphasizes the highly interactive nature of the auditory system as well as the depth of its integration with other sensory and cognitive systems. From the origins of music and language to the effects of auditory expertise on the neural encoding of sound, we consider key themes in auditory processing, learning, and plasticity. We emphasize the unique role of the auditory system as the temporal processing "expert" in the brain, and explore relationships between communication and cognition. We demonstrate how experience with music and language can have a significant impact on underlying neural function, and that auditory expertise strengthens some of the very same aspects of sound encoding that are deficient in impaired populations. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

From Sound to Significance: Exploring the Mechanisms Underlying Emotional Reactions to Music.

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Juslin, Patrik N; Barradas, Gonçalo; Eerola, Tuomas

2015-01-01

A common approach to studying emotional reactions to music is to attempt to obtain direct links between musical surface features such as tempo and a listener's responses. However, such an analysis ultimately fails to explain why emotions are aroused in the listener. In this article we explore an alternative approach, which aims to account for musical emotions in terms of a set of psychological mechanisms that are activated by different types of information in a musical event. This approach was tested in 4 experiments that manipulated 4 mechanisms (brain stem reflex, contagion, episodic memory, musical expectancy) by selecting existing musical pieces that featured information relevant for each mechanism. The excerpts were played to 60 listeners, who were asked to rate their felt emotions on 15 scales. Skin conductance levels and facial expressions were measured, and listeners reported subjective impressions of relevance to specific mechanisms. Results indicated that the target mechanism conditions evoked emotions largely as predicted by a multimechanism framework and that mostly similar effects occurred across the experiments that included different pieces of music. We conclude that a satisfactory account of musical emotions requires consideration of how musical features and responses are mediated by a range of underlying mechanisms.

Music and Music Intervention for Therapeutic Purposes in Patients with Ventilator Support; Gamelan Music Perspective

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Suhartini Suhartini

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Gamelan music is one of folk music for Javanese people. Several research studies testing the effects of music were conducted in Western countries. The music studies for therapeutic purposes used classical music commonly. Even in Indonesia, some researchers may use that music for therapeutic purposes. This concern article explains the perspective music and music intervention as therapeutic purposes, view with Javanese classical music.Objectives: To explore the evidence of music and music intervention for therapeutic purposes and to describe the perspective of gamelan music used in nursing interventionMethods: Using five bibliography databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL, Science Direct, Interscience, and Proquest were searched from 1999-2010 for original clinical reports or reviews that evaluated the use of complementary therapy for therapeutic intervention in patients with ventilator support. The term of complementary therapy, anxiety, and pain were used in a comprehensive search of electronic databases. Articles were screened and excluded based on the title and abstract information.Results: Music brings about helpful changes in the emotional and physical health of patients, and has the ability to provide an altered state of physical arousal and subsequent mood improvement by processing a progression of musical notes of varying tone, rhythm, and instrumentation for a pleasing effect.Conclusion: Music can be used for therapeutic purposes, for instance to reduce anxiety, to decrease pain sensation, and some effects of psychological impact. Include, the gamelan music can be offer for patients for Javanese people in Indonesia.Key words: Music, music intervention, therapeutic purposes

Music-induced changes in functional cerebral asymmetries.

Science.gov (United States)

Hausmann, Markus; Hodgetts, Sophie; Eerola, Tuomas

2016-04-01

After decades of research, it remains unclear whether emotion lateralization occurs because one hemisphere is dominant for processing the emotional content of the stimuli, or whether emotional stimuli activate lateralised networks associated with the subjective emotional experience. By using emotion-induction procedures, we investigated the effect of listening to happy and sad music on three well-established lateralization tasks. In a prestudy, Mozart's piano sonata (K. 448) and Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata were rated as the most happy and sad excerpts, respectively. Participants listened to either one emotional excerpt, or sat in silence before completing an emotional chimeric faces task (Experiment 1), visual line bisection task (Experiment 2) and a dichotic listening task (Experiment 3 and 4). Listening to happy music resulted in a reduced right hemispheric bias in facial emotion recognition (Experiment 1) and visuospatial attention (Experiment 2) and increased left hemispheric bias in language lateralization (Experiments 3 and 4). Although Experiments 1-3 revealed an increased positive emotional state after listening to happy music, mediation analyses revealed that the effect on hemispheric asymmetries was not mediated by music-induced emotional changes. The direct effect of music listening on lateralization was investigated in Experiment 4 in which tempo of the happy excerpt was manipulated by controlling for other acoustic features. However, the results of Experiment 4 made it rather unlikely that tempo is the critical cue accounting for the effects. We conclude that listening to music can affect functional cerebral asymmetries in well-established emotional and cognitive laterality tasks, independent of music-induced changes in the emotion state. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Common postural defects among music students.

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Blanco-Piñeiro, Patricia; Díaz-Pereira, M Pino; Martínez, Aurora

2015-07-01

Postural quality during musical performance affects both musculoskeletal health and the quality of the performance. In this study we examined the posture of 100 students at a Higher Conservatory of Music in Spain. By analysing video tapes and photographs of the students while performing, a panel of experts extracted values of 11 variables reflecting aspects of overall postural quality or the postural quality of various parts of the body. The most common postural defects were identified, together with the situations in which they occur. It is concluded that most students incur in unphysiological postures during performance. It is hoped that use of the results of this study will help correct these errors. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

iTunes music

CERN Document Server

Katz, Bob

2013-01-01

Apple's exciting new Mastered for iTunes (MFiT) initiative, introduced in early 2012, introduces new possibilities for delivering high-quality audio. For the first time, record labels and program producers are encouraged to deliver audio materials to iTunes in a high resolution format, which can produce better-sounding masters. In iTunes Music, author and world-class mastering engineer Bob Katz starts out with the basics, surveys the recent past, and brings you quickly up to the present-where the current state of digital audio is bleak. Katz explains the evolution of

Defining African traditional musical traits: Resource material for ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... descending melodic line, the pentatonic and non-pentatonic scales, speech inflected melody, melisma and embellishment, preference for thirds, form, lack of modulations and texture. It could be concluded that indigenous African music has a potential for development from a utilitarian (functional) to an abstract (art for art's ...

Pop and World Music in Dutch Music Education: Two Cases of Authentic Learning in Music Teacher Education and Secondary Music Education

Science.gov (United States)

Evelein, Frits

2006-01-01

Popular and world music play an important role in Dutch music education. This article examines two case studies that illustrate authentic music learning environments in which these types of music are prominently used. The first case follows a student during her training at the Rotterdam Academy for Music Education, in which her own musical and…

Music Therapy: A Career in Music Therapy

Science.gov (United States)

About Music Therapy & Music Therapy Training M usic therapy is a healthcare profession that uses music to help individuals of all ages improve physical, cognitive, emotional, and social functioning. Music therapists work with children and adults with developmental ...

Music production-consumption and the service-good spectrum under the sway of a shift within a shift

OpenAIRE

Carvalho, Sílvia Helena Meyer; Scavarda, Annibal

2015-01-01

Nowadays music constitutes a phenomenon whose complexion entangles aspects simultaneously related to society, culture, art, business, and technology. Due to the combined influence of these aspects, music production-consumption acquires some unique features. Added to that, the swift evolution and growing influence of the economic-technological association have increasingly affected music as a sociocultural phenomenon, as an art form, and as a corporative business, increasing the complexity of ...

Crossmodal effects of Guqin and piano music on selective attention: an event-related potential study.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Weina; Zhang, Junjun; Ding, Xiaojun; Zhou, Changle; Ma, Yuanye; Xu, Dan

2009-11-27

To compare the effects of music from different cultural environments (Guqin: Chinese music; piano: Western music) on crossmodal selective attention, behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) data in a standard two-stimulus visual oddball task were recorded from Chinese subjects in three conditions: silence, Guqin music or piano music background. Visual task data were then compared with auditory task data collected previously. In contrast with the results of the auditory task, the early (N1) and late (P300) stages exhibited no differences between Guqin and piano backgrounds during the visual task. Taking our previous study and this study together, we can conclude that: although the cultural-familiar music influenced selective attention both in the early and late stages, these effects appeared only within a sensory modality (auditory) but not in cross-sensory modalities (visual). Thus, the musical cultural factor is more obvious in intramodal than in crossmodal selective attention.

Music Teachers and Music Therapists: Helping Children Together.

Science.gov (United States)

Patterson, Allyson

2003-01-01

Provides background information on music therapy. Discusses how music therapy works in the public school setting and offers advice to music teachers. Explores music therapy and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, addressing the benefits of having access to music therapists. (CMK)

Creating a Safe Place in the Midst of Aggression: Music Therapy in Child Psychiatry

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Marieke Degryse

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Working as a music therapist in a psychiatric unit for children with learning disabilities, one is often confronted with a lot of aggression. Most of these children have attachment disorders and severe behavioural problems. By which means can music exist in music therapy within this specific setting? Can we speak of a traumatic nature in music and body? This article will present a case study, where finding a safe place within music therapy is of major importance. Learning and listening to songs can be a necessary way to safeguard control for the client, gain some self-confidence, and create a place for regression. Going through this process in finding a safe and contained place within music therapy, the possibility of playing techniques arises, offering the freedom for exploration and a form of control and predictability. The case study concludes with the importance of playfulness whereby traumatic material can be digested through the music. Also, the role of singing songs in music therapy with this population is highlighted briefly.

Music therapy in rehabilitation: a narrative review (2004-2014

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María del Carmen Gómez Álvaro

2015-04-01

Full Text Available During this decade, there has been an increased on research about music therapy interventions as a therapeutic tool.  Narrative reviews that have been published till nowadays show the implications and effectiveness of interventions based on music therapy as a rehabilitative intervention strategy. However, due to their narrowness they lack of a general perspective of the construct. Moreover, these reviews do not include in their criteria the search term “music therapy”, thereby excluding studies that support the effectiveness of music therapy in rehabilitation. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to solve this issue including and reviewing findings of published research that have been excluded from previous reviews over the last ten years. There were two research questions: For which disorders is music therapy more effective? What are the benefits of music therapy in rehabilitation? In order to answer these questions, we conducted a literature review in academic databases, such as Academic Search Complete, Medline, and Science Direct, including the search term "music therapy".   Furthermore, papers fulfilling inclusion criteria, such as empirical studies, written in English, which used music as therapeutic stimulation were reviewed. We found twenty-four studies in which we analyzed the participants (experimental vs. control, the results, and limitations. We conclude, cautiously, that music therapy may help in the rehabilitation of cognitive, motor, and sensory functions of brain damage, the rehabilitation of schizophrenia and primary depression; and amelioration of neurodegenerative disorders, autism spectrum disorders, substance abuse and other pathologies. We recommend overcoming the methodological limitations of these studies and the suitability of cross-cultural studies.

A New Understanding of Ankara Music within the Context of Global Cultural Flow

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Ömer Can Satır

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study is to consider a new understanding of the complex and multilayered structure of Ankara music, which is situated between tradition and modernity and has become an important form of popular culture in the region, in the context of local and global relationships.. The theoretical framework of the study is based on Appadurai’s “global cultural flow” model. The ethnoscape, finanscape, mediascape, technoscape and ideoscape of Ankara music is examined in accordance with this approach to reveal the dynamics that make this music different. In the light of these findings, it is concluded that the ethnoscape of Ankara music is based on a broad demographic coalition that has created an independent music industry with a finanscape depending on production, distribution and consumption. While this type of music is represented through a network-based social structure, it gains legitimacy outside its bounds within the media environment. The “Ankara” genre and its quest for authenticity described in this work reveal the ideoscape of the new Ankara music.

The Categorical Perception of the Music Scale a Challenge before the Microtonal Music

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Ivan Kostadinov Yanakiev

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The text examines the phenomenon of categorical perception of musical pitch as defined by John Sloboda (1999, Jane A. and William Siegel (1977, Stefan Koelsch (2012, and William Yost (2013, in their researches in the field of music psychology. The paper states the hypothesis that the current system of dividing the octave in twelve equal semitones do not employ the human physical capabilities for defining pitch to their full extend. On the contrary, the reviewed literature testify for the existence of a strong tendency to categorically label and perceive non equally tempered intervals with different but close to each other magnitudes (widths as the same. This tendency is stronger in professionally trained musicians than in non-musicians. A short historical excursion to the 21 tone 1/6 syntonic coma meantone temperament, recommended by both Leopold (1856 and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1965, is included as an example for better utilization of the musicians’ potential to distinguish pitch and intervals, which had been employed in practice. The text continues with a brief overview of the theory behind generating intonations and temperaments, based on the Equal Division of the Octave (EDO method. Finally, a short exemplary reference to Kyle Ganns’ cycle “Hyperchromatica” (2015 is made alongside with quoting his personal attitude and commentary towards the performers’ general interest for microtonal music. The paper concludes that the categorical perception of pitch in the context of the twelve-tone equal temperament may be regarded as the main challenge, which the microtonal music is facing.

The Musical Self-Concept of Chinese Music Students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suse ePetersen

2016-05-01

Full Text Available The relationship between self-concept and societal settings has been widely investigated in several Western and Asian countries, with respect to the academic self-concept in an educational environment. Although the musical self-concept is highly relevant to musical development and performance, there is a lack of research exploring how the musical self-concept evolves in different cultural settings and societies. In particular, there have been no enquiries yet in the Chinese music education environment. This study’s goal was the characterization of musical self-concept types among music students at a University in Beijing, China. The Musical Self-Concept Inquiry (MUSCI—including ability, emotional, physical, cognitive, and social facets—was used to assess the students’ musical self-concepts (N=97. The data analysis led to three significantly distinct clusters and corresponding musical self-concept types. The types were especially distinct, in the students’ perception of their musical ambitions and abilities; their movement, rhythm and dancing affinity; and the spiritual and social aspects of music. The professional aims and perspectives, and the aspects of the students’ sociodemographic background also differed between the clusters. This study is one of the first research endeavors addressing musical self-concepts in China. The empirical identification of the self-concept types offers a basis for future research on the connections between education, the development of musical achievement, and the musical self-concept in societal settings with differing understandings of the self.

The Musical Self-Concept of Chinese Music Students.

Science.gov (United States)

Petersen, Suse; Camp, Marc-Antoine

2016-01-01

The relationship between self-concept and societal settings has been widely investigated in several Western and Asian countries, with respect to the academic self-concept in an educational environment. Although the musical self-concept is highly relevant to musical development and performance, there is a lack of research exploring how the musical self-concept evolves in different cultural settings and societies. In particular, there have been no enquiries yet in the Chinese music education environment. This study's goal was the characterization of musical self-concept types among music students at a University in Beijing, China. The Musical Self-Concept Inquiry-including ability, emotional, physical, cognitive, and social facets-was used to assess the students' musical self-concepts (N = 97). The data analysis led to three significantly distinct clusters and corresponding musical self-concept types. The types were especially distinct, in the students' perception of their musical ambitions and abilities; their movement, rhythm and dancing affinity; and the spiritual and social aspects of music. The professional aims and perspectives, and the aspects of the students' sociodemographic background also differed between the clusters. This study is one of the first research endeavors addressing musical self-concepts in China. The empirical identification of the self-concept types offers a basis for future research on the connections between education, the development of musical achievement, and the musical self-concept in societal settings with differing understandings of the self.

The Musical Self-Concept of Chinese Music Students

Science.gov (United States)

Petersen, Suse; Camp, Marc-Antoine

2016-01-01

The relationship between self-concept and societal settings has been widely investigated in several Western and Asian countries, with respect to the academic self-concept in an educational environment. Although the musical self-concept is highly relevant to musical development and performance, there is a lack of research exploring how the musical self-concept evolves in different cultural settings and societies. In particular, there have been no enquiries yet in the Chinese music education environment. This study’s goal was the characterization of musical self-concept types among music students at a University in Beijing, China. The Musical Self-Concept Inquiry—including ability, emotional, physical, cognitive, and social facets—was used to assess the students’ musical self-concepts (N = 97). The data analysis led to three significantly distinct clusters and corresponding musical self-concept types. The types were especially distinct, in the students’ perception of their musical ambitions and abilities; their movement, rhythm and dancing affinity; and the spiritual and social aspects of music. The professional aims and perspectives, and the aspects of the students’ sociodemographic background also differed between the clusters. This study is one of the first research endeavors addressing musical self-concepts in China. The empirical identification of the self-concept types offers a basis for future research on the connections between education, the development of musical achievement, and the musical self-concept in societal settings with differing understandings of the self. PMID:27303337

Heart Rate Response of Professional Musicians When Playing Music.

Science.gov (United States)

Vellers, Heather L; Irwin, Conor; Lightfoot, J T

2015-06-01

The primary aim was to determine the level of physiological stress evoked while playing music in a standing position as indicated by heart rate (HR) response. A secondary aim was to analyze the effect of music genre (classic rock, western, contemporary Christian, and metal rock) on the relative HR response. Lastly, we considered potential physiological initiators of the music-playing-induced HR response. HR response was monitored in 27 professional musicians (3 women, 24 men) between the ages of 21 and 67 yrs old during rehearsal and public performances. The percent maximal HR (%MHR) evoked was determined by taking a percentage of the age-predicted maximal HR for each musician and comparing the average %MHR in each genre during public and rehearsal events. The role of the potential initiators of these responses (e.g., number of years playing in public, event type, instrument type, tempo, etc.) was determined using multiple regression analyses. The overall average %MHR responses were 52 ± 5% and 59 ± 5% during rehearsal and public performances, respectively, with genre type having a significant effect on the HR response (p=0.01). Body mass index and tempo were each found to be significant contributors to the HR response while playing music (r²=0.506, p=0.001). Playing music professionally evokes considerable increases in HR response, with music genre influencing the level of the physiological response. We concluded that 50% of the HR response while playing music was associated with body mass index, music tempo, and instrument type.

Nonlinearities and synchronization in musical acoustics and music psychology

CERN Document Server

Bader, Rolf

2013-01-01

Nonlinearities are a crucial and founding principle in nearly all musical systems, may they be musical instruments, timbre or rhythm perception and production, or neural networks of music perception. This volume gives an overview about present and past research in these fields. In Musical Acoustics, on the one hand the nonlinearities in musical instruments often produce the musically interesting features. On the other, musical instruments are nonlinear by nature, and tone production is the result of synchronization and self-organization within the instruments. Furthermore, as nearly all musical instruments are driven by impulses an Impulse Pattern Formulation (IPF) is suggested, an iterative framework holding for all musical instruments. It appears that this framework is able to reproduce the complex and perceptionally most salient initial transients of musical instruments. In Music Psychology, nonlinearities are present in all areas of musical features, like pitch, timbre, or rhythm perception. In terms of r...

Music

OpenAIRE

Deinert, Herbert

2010-01-01

The musical ending [of Goethe's Novelle] recalls the fascination with "music as metaphor", "the power of music", among recent and contemporary poets from Pope and Dryden and Collins to E.T.A. Hoffmann and Kleist and, of course to Goethe himself. Music saves Faust's life on Easter morning at the end of a dreadful night, and we'll encounter a similar role of music in his Trilogie der Leidenschaft which we'll read in this context.

Improvement of autobiographic memory recovery by means of sad music in Alzheimer's Disease type dementia.

Science.gov (United States)

Meilán García, Juan José; Iodice, Rosario; Carro, Juan; Sánchez, José Antonio; Palmero, Francisco; Mateos, Ana María

2012-06-01

Autobiographic memory undergoes progressive deterioration during the evolution of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The aim of this study was to analyze mechanisms which facilitate recovery of autobiographic memories. We used a repeatedly employed mechanism, music, with the addition of an emotional factor. Autobiographic memory provoked by a variety of sounds (music which was happy, sad, lacking emotion, ambient noise in a coffee bar and no sound) was analyzed in a sample of 25 patients with AD. Emotional music, especially sad music for remote memories, was found to be the most effective kind for recall of autobiographic experiences. The factor evoking the memory is not the music itself, but rather the emotion associated with it, and is useful for semantic rather than episodic memory.

The Music Industry Conference Guide for Music Educators. A Supplement to the Music Educators Journal.

Science.gov (United States)

Music Educators Journal, 1988

1988-01-01

This supplement is a comprehensive guide to the music industry designed for music teachers. Included are tips for contacting music businesses and suggestions on ordering music, robes, instruments, computer software, and other supplies. Includes an annotated directory of Music Industry Conference members. (JDH)

Christian music in contemporary Africa: a re-examination of its essentials

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. Adedeji

2007-07-01

Full Text Available Christian music all over Africa (be it liturgical church music or gospel, in contemporary times has become so popular and well grown howbeit in divergent dimensions. As a result, there have been questions, debates and confusions both by insiders and outsiders of the Christian faith on what exactly constitutes Christian music. There then arises the need to theorise the fundamentals of Christian music, exhuming the Biblical, musical and socio-cultural basis for its performance practices. This article examines various principles that should guide contemporary Christian musicianship, especially as contained in the Scriptures; arguing that the practice of Christian music cannot be divorced from Bible even when the principles of musical sound organisation and the socio-cultural needs of the society have to be observed. The tension created by the superimposition of the three is also resolved. This article is therefore theoretical and prescriptive in focus and depth as it offers to the African audience the paradigms for understanding the art, gives guidance to the practitioners, and supplies scholarly information to the scholars and observers of Christian studies in general. The article concludes by recommending the indispensability of Biblical standards and skilful originality/artistry in contemporary Christian musicianship.

[Music and health--what kind of music is helpful for whom? What music not?].

Science.gov (United States)

Trappe, H-J

2009-12-01

It is well known that music not only may improve quality of life (QoL) but also have different effects on heart rate (HR) and its variability (HRV). Music emphasis and rhythmic phrases are tracked consistently by physiological variables. Autonomic responses are synchronized with music, which might therefore convey emotions through autonomic arousal during crescendos or rhythmic phrases. A greater modulation of HR, HRV and modulations in cardiac autonomic nerve activity was revealed with a greater effect for music performance than music perception. Reactions to music are considered subjective, but studies suggested that cardiorespiratory variables are influenced under different circumstances. It has been shown that relaxing music decreases significantly the level of anxiety in a preoperative setting to a greater extent than orally administered midazolam (p effectiveness and absence of apparent adverse effects make preoperative relaxing music a useful alternative to midazolam for premedication. In addition, there is sufficient practical evidence of stress reduction to suggest that a proposed regimen of listening to music while resting in bed after open heart surgery. Music intervention should be offered as an integral part of the multimodal regime administered to the patients that have undergone cardiovascular surgery. It is a supportive source that increases relaxation. Music is also effective in under conditions and music can be utilized as an effective intervention for patients with depressive symptoms, geriatrics and in pain, intensive care or palliative medicine. However, careful selected music that incorporates a patient's own preferences may offer an effective method to reduce anxiety and to improve quality of life. The most benefit on health is visible in classic music, meditation music whereas heavy metal music or technosounds are even ineffective or dangerous and will lead to stress and/or life threatening arrhythmias. There are many composers most

Music therapy and music medicine for children and adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Yinger, Olivia Swedberg; Gooding, Lori

2014-07-01

This article summarizes the research on music therapy and music medicine for children and adolescents with diagnoses commonly treated by psychiatrists. Music therapy and music medicine are defined, effects of music on the brain are described, and music therapy research in psychiatric treatment is discussed. Music therapy research with specific child/adolescent populations is summarized, including disorders usually diagnosed in childhood, substance abuse, mood/anxiety disorders, and eating disorders. Clinical implications are listed, including suggestions for health care professionals seeking to use music medicine techniques. Strengths and weaknesses of music therapy treatment are discussed, as well as areas for future research. Published by Elsevier Inc.

The evolutionary biology of musical rhythm: was Darwin wrong?

Science.gov (United States)

Patel, Aniruddh D

2014-03-01

In The Descent of Man, Darwin speculated that our capacity for musical rhythm reflects basic aspects of brain function broadly shared among animals. Although this remains an appealing idea, it is being challenged by modern cross-species research. This research hints that our capacity to synchronize to a beat, i.e., to move in time with a perceived pulse in a manner that is predictive and flexible across a broad range of tempi, may be shared by only a few other species. Is this really the case? If so, it would have important implications for our understanding of the evolution of human musicality.

Parameter optimization of differential evolution algorithm for automatic playlist generation problem

Science.gov (United States)

Alamag, Kaye Melina Natividad B.; Addawe, Joel M.

2017-11-01

With the digitalization of music, the number of collection of music increased largely and there is a need to create lists of music that filter the collection according to user preferences, thus giving rise to the Automatic Playlist Generation Problem (APGP). Previous attempts to solve this problem include the use of search and optimization algorithms. If a music database is very large, the algorithm to be used must be able to search the lists thoroughly taking into account the quality of the playlist given a set of user constraints. In this paper we perform an evolutionary meta-heuristic optimization algorithm, Differential Evolution (DE) using different combination of parameter values and select the best performing set when used to solve four standard test functions. Performance of the proposed algorithm is then compared with normal Genetic Algorithm (GA) and a hybrid GA with Tabu Search. Numerical simulations are carried out to show better results from Differential Evolution approach with the optimized parameter values.

Concluding remarks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Patrick, W.C.

1996-01-01

This section contains the concluding remarks of the workshop on rock mechanics issues in repository design and performance assessment. Technical issues such as spatial variability of rock properties, rock mass strength, measurement of loads, evaluation of long-term seal performance, and integration of data into design were discussed. Programmatic issues such as development of a coherent and consistent design methodology and implementation of that methodology were also reiterated

An Independent Psychometric Evaluation of the PROMS Measure of Music Perception Skills.

Science.gov (United States)

Kunert, Richard; Willems, Roel M; Hagoort, Peter

2016-01-01

The Profile of Music Perception Skills (PROMS) is a recently developed measure of perceptual music skills which has been shown to have promising psychometric properties. In this paper we extend the evaluation of its brief version to three kinds of validity using an individual difference approach. The brief PROMS displays good discriminant validity with working memory, given that it does not correlate with backward digit span (r = .04). Moreover, it shows promising criterion validity (association with musical training (r = .45), musicianship status (r = .48), and self-rated musical talent (r = .51)). Finally, its convergent validity, i.e. relation to an unrelated measure of music perception skills, was assessed by correlating the brief PROMS to harmonic closure judgment accuracy. Two independent samples point to good convergent validity of the brief PROMS (r = .36; r = .40). The same association is still significant in one of the samples when including self-reported music skill in a partial correlation (rpartial = .30; rpartial = .17). Overall, the results show that the brief version of the PROMS displays a very good pattern of construct validity. Especially its tuning subtest stands out as a valuable part for music skill evaluations in Western samples. We conclude by briefly discussing the choice faced by music cognition researchers between different musical aptitude measures of which the brief PROMS is a well evaluated example.

CONCEPT OF MUSIC AND LISTENED SOME GENRES OF MUSIC IN TURKEY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cigdem Eda Angi

2015-02-01

Full Text Available In this research, the definition and development of music and music’s types from the first period to the present day is analysed briefly. According to the research, the music types which will be searched, are arabesque music, blues music/jazz music, hiphop/rap music, classical music, pop music, rock/metal music, sufi music, Turkish folk music, Turkish art music. The research is a descriptive workout due to its purpose and method used. This research is important by means of being a source for the researchers and explaining various music types.

Music as word: Film music - superlibretto?

OpenAIRE

Ćirić Marija

2013-01-01

The aim of his paper is to prove that film music can be understood as authentic narrative force: film music as word / discourse and its superlibretto status. Superlibretto is the status of music in a film which is constructing its own (aural) reality and is narrating, speaking its own text which creates a wholesome film meaning. The existence of superlibretto is substantiated by fundamental theoretic concepts of film music and practically proven by analyses...

Music and the Mind: Music's Healing Powers

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Caroilyn S. Ticker

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Music makes you smarter: or at least that is what the "experts" are saying. CDs are sold of Mozart's Sonatas for babies, and parents are urged to give their children music lessons in the belief that music does something to our brains which in turn makes us more intelligent. But is this really true? Does music really affect the brain in the powerful way that scientists are suggesting, or is it hearsay? In this paper I investigate the effects of music on our brain's plasticity and cognition by looking at several different experimental studies. Specifically I will address how music affects brain plasticity, emotion, physical health and linguistic processing, and how these effects in turn make music a beneficial tool for therapy, particularly in patients with Traumatic-Brain Injury (TBI and Autism-Spectrum Disorder.

Structural Segmentation of Toru Takemitsu's Piece, Itinerant, by Advanced Level Music Graduate Students.

Science.gov (United States)

Ordoñana, Jose A; Laucirica, Ana

2017-01-01

This work attempts to study the way higher music graduate students segment a contemporary music work, Itinerant, and to understand the influence of musical feature on segmentation. It attempts to test the theory stating that saliences contribute to organising the music surface. The 42 students listened to the work several times and, in real time, they were requested to indicate the places on the score where they perceived structural boundaries. This work is characterised by its linearity, which could hinder identification of saliences and thereby, the establishment of structural boundaries. The participants show stability in the points of segmentation chosen. The results show significant coincidences among the participants in strategic places of the work, which leads us to conclude, in line with other researches, although in a work with different characteristics, that listeners can find a structural organisation in contemporary music that could allow them to understand it.

Art and Science: How Musical Training Shapes the Brain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karen Chan Barrett

2013-10-01

Full Text Available What makes a musician? In this review, we discuss innate and experience-dependent factors that mold the musician brain in addition to presenting new data in children that indicate that some neural enhancements in musicians unfold with continued training over development. We begin by addressing effects of training on musical expertise, presenting neural, perceptual and cognitive evidence to support the claim that musicians are shaped by their musical training regimes. For example, many musician-advantages in the neural encoding of sound, auditory perception, and auditory-cognitive skills correlate with their extent of musical training, are not observed in young children just initiating musical training, and differ based on the type of training pursued. Even amidst innate characteristics that contribute to the biological building blocks that make up the musician, musicians demonstrate further training-related enhancements through extensive education and practice. We conclude by reviewing evidence from neurobiological and epigenetic approaches to frame biological markers of musicianship in the context of interactions between genetic and experience-related factors.

LISTENING TO MUSIC AND MUSIC PREFERENCES IN EARLY ADOLESCENCE

OpenAIRE

Ercegovac, Ina Reić; Dobrota, Snježana; Surić, Sara

2017-01-01

Music plays an important role in the life of adolescents. Dealing with music represents a very important free-time activity during adolescence, while by listening to music or performing music adolescents can satisfy a range of needs, both personal and those of social nature. Therefore, this paper presents the results of research on musical taste and listening to music habits in early adolescence. We hypothesized that students generally like listening to music and that they mostly prefer do...

Music training and child development: a review of recent findings from a longitudinal study.

Science.gov (United States)

Habibi, Assal; Damasio, Antonio; Ilari, Beatriz; Elliott Sachs, Matthew; Damasio, Hanna

2018-03-06

Evidence suggests that learning to play music enhances musical processing skills and benefits other cognitive abilities. Furthermore, studies of children and adults indicate that the brains of musicians and nonmusicians are different. It has not been determined, however, whether such differences result from pre-existing traits, musical training, or an interaction between the two. As part of an ongoing longitudinal study, we investigated the effects of music training on children's brain and cognitive development. The target group of children was compared with two groups of children, one involved in sports and another not enrolled in any systematic afterschool training. Two years after training, we observed that children in the music group had better performance than comparison groups in musically relevant auditory skills and showed related brain changes. For nonmusical skills, children with music training, compared with children without music or with sports training, showed stronger neural activation during a cognitive inhibition task in regions involved in response inhibition despite no differences in performance on behavioral measures of executive function. No such differences were found between music and sports groups. We conclude that music training induces brain and behavioral changes in children, and those changes are not attributable to pre-existing biological traits. © 2018 New York Academy of Sciences.

The Idea of Evolution

Science.gov (United States)

Mathison, Jane

1976-01-01

The idea of evolution is examined in a historical perspective in this article. Considerable discussion is given to the works of Lamarck and Darwin. The evolutionary process is also examined with respect to philosophy, art and music history, and man's place in nature. References are included. (MA)

CONCEPT OF MUSIC AND LISTENED SOME GENRES OF MUSIC IN TURKEY

OpenAIRE

Cigdem Eda Angi

2015-01-01

In this research, the definition and development of music and music’s types from the first period to the present day is analysed briefly. According to the research, the music types which will be searched, are arabesque music, blues music/jazz music, hiphop/rap music, classical music, pop music, rock/metal music, sufi music, Turkish folk music, Turkish art music. The research is a descriptive workout due to its purpose and method used. This research is important by means of being a source for ...

The effect of music on 10-km cycle time-trial performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Hagen, Jana; Foster, Carl; Rodríguez-Marroyo, Jose; de Koning, Jos J; Mikat, Richard P; Hendrix, Charles R; Porcari, John P

2013-01-01

Music is widely used as an ergogenic aid in sport, but there is little evidence of its effectiveness during closed-loop athletic events. In order to determine the effectiveness of music as an ergogenic aid, well-trained and task-habituated cyclists performed 10-km cycle time trials either while listening to self-selected motivational music or with auditory input blocked. There were no statistically significant differences in performance time or physiological or psychological markers related to music (time-trial duration17.75 ± 2.10 vs 17.81 ± 2.06 min, mean power output 222 ± 66 vs 220 ± 65 W, peak heart rate184 ± 9 vs 183 ± 8 beats/min, peak blood lactate12.1 ± 2.6 vs 11.9 ± 2.1 mmol/L, and final rating of perceived exertion 8.4 ± 1.5 vs 8.5 ± 1.6). It is concluded that during exercise at competitive intensity, there is no meaningful effect of music on either performance or physiology.

From the Functions of Music to Music Preference

Science.gov (United States)

Schafer, Thomas; Sedlmeier, Peter

2009-01-01

To date, not much is known about how the functions of music relate to music preference. This article examines the basic hypothesis that the strength of preference for a given kind of music depends on the degree to which that kind of music serves the needs of the listener; that is, how well the respective functions of music are fulfilled. Study 1,…

Music and the brain: the neuroscience of music and musical appreciation.

Science.gov (United States)

Trimble, Michael; Hesdorffer, Dale

2017-05-01

Through music we can learn much about our human origins and the human brain. Music is a potential method of therapy and a means of accessing and stimulating specific cerebral circuits. There is also an association between musical creativity and psychopathology. This paper provides a brief review.

Vocal health fitness to different music styles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Cláudia Mendes Caminha Muniz

2010-09-01

Full Text Available Objective: To present genres and styles currently running on western music scene, focusing on the practice of singing voice. Methods: An observational and documental study for which were selected sound sources presenting musical genres and styles that are part of the experience of the researchers, which were analyzed considering origins, formative elements and vocal features. Alongside we carried out a review of literature grounded in databases research and free review of websites and classical books of the area. Results: The selected styles (Rock and Roll, Heavy Metal, Trash Metal, Grunge, Gothic Metal, Rap, Funk, Blues, R&B – Rhythm and Blues, Soul, Gospel, MPB, Samba, Forro, Sertanejo, Bossa Nova, Opera and Chamber Music were described, pointing the reasons for the speech therapist to be informed about them and about singing voice aspects. His guidance may minimize possible vocal damage caused by each style, since each of them carries its own patterns to which the interpreter must submit. Conclusions: We conclude that the singer will use a specific vocal pattern that resembles the musical style he intends to sing, regardless of any harm it may or may not cause to vocal health. When choosing a musical style, it is important that the singer has the knowledge and understanding of how the use of his vocal apparatus will cause or not cause injury to his voice. Also be aware that the technique in singing is necessary for vocal longevity.

Benchmarking the Multidimensional Stellar Implicit Code MUSIC

Science.gov (United States)

Goffrey, T.; Pratt, J.; Viallet, M.; Baraffe, I.; Popov, M. V.; Walder, R.; Folini, D.; Geroux, C.; Constantino, T.

2017-04-01

We present the results of a numerical benchmark study for the MUltidimensional Stellar Implicit Code (MUSIC) based on widely applicable two- and three-dimensional compressible hydrodynamics problems relevant to stellar interiors. MUSIC is an implicit large eddy simulation code that uses implicit time integration, implemented as a Jacobian-free Newton Krylov method. A physics based preconditioning technique which can be adjusted to target varying physics is used to improve the performance of the solver. The problems used for this benchmark study include the Rayleigh-Taylor and Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities, and the decay of the Taylor-Green vortex. Additionally we show a test of hydrostatic equilibrium, in a stellar environment which is dominated by radiative effects. In this setting the flexibility of the preconditioning technique is demonstrated. This work aims to bridge the gap between the hydrodynamic test problems typically used during development of numerical methods and the complex flows of stellar interiors. A series of multidimensional tests were performed and analysed. Each of these test cases was analysed with a simple, scalar diagnostic, with the aim of enabling direct code comparisons. As the tests performed do not have analytic solutions, we verify MUSIC by comparing it to established codes including ATHENA and the PENCIL code. MUSIC is able to both reproduce behaviour from established and widely-used codes as well as results expected from theoretical predictions. This benchmarking study concludes a series of papers describing the development of the MUSIC code and provides confidence in future applications.

Playing Music, Playing with Music: A Proposal for Music Coding in Primary School

Science.gov (United States)

Baratè, Adriano; Ludovico, Luca Andrea; Mangione, Giuseppina Rita; Rosa, Alessia

2015-01-01

In this work we will introduce the concept of "music coding," namely a new discipline that employs basic music activities and simplified languages to teach the computational way of thinking to musically-untrained children who attend the primary school. In this context, music represents both a mean and a goal: in fact, from one side…

Style in Music

Science.gov (United States)

Dannenberg, Roger B.

Because music is not objectively descriptive or representational, the subjective qualities of music seem to be most important. Style is one of the most salient qualities of music, and in fact most descriptions of music refer to some aspect of musical style. Style in music can refer to historical periods, composers, performers, sonic texture, emotion, and genre. In recent years, many aspects of music style have been studied from the standpoint of automation: How can musical style be recognized and synthesized? An introduction to musical style describes ways in which style is characterized by composers and music theorists. Examples are then given where musical style is the focal point for computer models of music analysis and music generation.

Music or Musics? An Important Matter at Hand

Science.gov (United States)

Goble, J. Scott

2015-01-01

Philosophers of music education presently find themselves suspended between modernism's universalist convictions and post-modernism's cultural relativist insights. In "Music Matters: A New Philosophy of Music Education" (1995), David Elliott challenged longstanding conceptions of "music education as aesthetic education" to…

Influence of musical expertise and musical training on pitch processing in music and language.

Science.gov (United States)

Besson, Mireille; Schön, Daniele; Moreno, Sylvain; Santos, Andréia; Magne, Cyrille

2007-01-01

We review a series of experiments aimed at studying pitch processing in music and speech. These studies were conducted with musician and non musician adults and children. We found that musical expertise improved pitch processing not only in music but also in speech. Demonstrating transfer of training between music and language has interesting applications for second language learning. We also addressed the issue of whether the positive effects of musical expertise are linked with specific predispositions for music or with extensive musical practice. Results of longitudinal studies argue for the later. Finally, we also examined pitch processing in dyslexic children and found that they had difficulties discriminating strong pitch changes that are easily discriminate by normal readers. These results argue for a strong link between basic auditory perception abilities and reading abilities. We used conjointly the behavioral method (Reaction Times and error rates) and the electrophysiological method (recording of the changes in brain electrical activity time-locked to stimulus presentation, Event-Related brain Potentials or ERPs). A set of common processes may be responsible for pitch processing in music and in speech and these processes are shaped by musical practice. These data add evidence in favor of brain plasticity and open interesting perspectives for the remediation of dyslexia using musical training.

Music

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lech, Marcel Lysgaard

2017-01-01

Old Comedy was a musical experience of great variety. Accompanied by the piper, both choruses and actors sang frequently during the performance. Music in Old comedy reflects to some extend the importance of music in Athenian everyday life, but as Greek Comedy evolved and detached it self more...... and more from the everyday topics, music similarly lost part of its importance within the plays themselves....

Music Therapy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Trondalen, Gro; Bonde, Lars Ole

2012-01-01

music therapy orientations/models (Guided Imagery and Music, Nordoff-Robbins, Psychoanalytic, Cognitive-behavioral etc), their theoretical foundations and their practical approaches to health and wellbeing or ‘health musicking’. The relational context – the interplay of (expressive as well as receptive......Music therapy (MT) is most commonly defined as an intervention where “the therapist helps the client to promote health, using music experiences and the relationships developing through them” (Bruscia 1998). Also other definitions of MT agree that a therapeutic relationship is important for a music...... intervention to be considered MT. Other interventions that “use music for health-related goals, but in ways that do not qualify as music therapy” (Gold 2009), may be described as music medicine, or simply as music listening. In this text we elaborate on an overview chapter covering some of the different major...

Modeling Music Emotion Judgments Using Machine Learning Methods

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Naresh N. Vempala

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Emotion judgments and five channels of physiological data were obtained from 60 participants listening to 60 music excerpts. Various machine learning (ML methods were used to model the emotion judgments inclusive of neural networks, linear regression, and random forests. Input for models of perceived emotion consisted of audio features extracted from the music recordings. Input for models of felt emotion consisted of physiological features extracted from the physiological recordings. Models were trained and interpreted with consideration of the classic debate in music emotion between cognitivists and emotivists. Our models supported a hybrid position wherein emotion judgments were influenced by a combination of perceived and felt emotions. In comparing the different ML approaches that were used for modeling, we conclude that neural networks were optimal, yielding models that were flexible as well as interpretable. Inspection of a committee machine, encompassing an ensemble of networks, revealed that arousal judgments were predominantly influenced by felt emotion, whereas valence judgments were predominantly influenced by perceived emotion.

Musicality Development Among Primary School Pupils in Music Studies

OpenAIRE

Vilde, Ilze

2013-01-01

Abstract Research goal. To explore the structure of musicality, to examine components that characterize musicality among primary school pupils and the pedagogic logic of its development during music lessons in primary school. As a result of the theoretical study, characterizing components and criteria of musicality among primary school pupils were researched and described and the description of musicality was broadened. The created model for music studies for facilitating the developme...

Musical style of reception – a musical interpretant – musical form in literature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aleksandra Reimann

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The paper is concerned with reception strategies where interdisciplinary competencies are connected to musical expectations towards a text, which – i.a. because of metatextual suggestions – needs a musical explanation – “musical supplement”. The objective of the article is the musical and literary dialog, which belongs to intermediality (definition by W. Wolf, and intertextuality in the large sense as well. Although the penetration of musical and literary correspondence does not threaten “scientist hysteria”, it also does not promise fruitful strategies and satisfactory conclusions. The paper includes terminological proposals which are an attempt at universal, semiotic transposition into musical and literary borderland, which in the practice of interpretation has too eclectic, and mostly one-time solutions.

The musical identities of Danish music therapy students

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bonde, Lars Ole

2013-01-01

In the music therapy masters program at Aalborg University (Denmark) Music and Identity is a short, intensive course, based on a musical autobiography written by each participating student. Since 1999 almost 100 students have written a narrative of their musical life story. This article will focus...... on contributions from students participating from 2010-12 (n=21). Musical autobiographies have been analyzed (a) using the theoretical model of Even Ruud (1997, 1998), (b) as thematic analysis (Braun & Clark 2006), (c) using RepGrid, a qualitative research methodology based on George Kelly’s Personal Construct...... Theory (Abrams & Meadows 2005). Patterns of identity construction are presented, and the roles and functions of music in different stages of life discussed, including the self-reported influence of music on the students' health....

The value of traditional African religious music into liturgy: Lobethal ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Handclapping was seen to act almost as a metronome, which steadily maintained the tempo. It was concluded that introducing traditional African religious music into Evangelical Lutheran liturgical church services has increased attendance and participation of church members. Therefore, the introduction of African religious ...

Music Consumption and Publishing in Todays Music Industry : Music publishing for an independent record label

OpenAIRE

Pienimäki, Kristian

2015-01-01

For the last two decades the changes in music technology and music consumption have affected music publishing as well as its viability. Much due to music digitalization and the overall decline in physical sales, the music industry has been forced to re-evaluate the means of publishing. The topic of the thesis is of current interest since the music industry is still in the state of change and new research is important. The thesis was assigned by an independent record label called Meiän Mu...

Pain, music creativity and music therapy in palliative care.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Callaghan, C C

1996-01-01

An analysis of the music therapy literature yields numerous reports to support the role of music in the alleviation of pain in palliative care. Four theoretical perspectives that support why many patients report reduced pain sensation after music therapy include: the psychological relationship between music and pain; the psychophysiological theory; spinal mechanisms involved in pain modulation; and the role of endorphins. Considerations significant to the use of music in pain relief include how music, used inappropriately, can aggravate pain sensation. Case studies, which include the use of creative music therapy techniques, point to the efficacy of music therapy in alleviating the pain experiences of both palliative care patients and their significant others.

Music and language: musical alexia and agraphia.

Science.gov (United States)

Brust, J C

1980-06-01

Two aphasic right-handed professional musicians with left hemispheric lesions had disturbed musical function, especially musical alexia and agraphia. In Case 1 aphasia was of transcortical sensory type, with severe agraphia and decreased comprehension of written words, although she could match them with pictures. Except for reading and writing, musical ability was normal; she could sing in five languages. Musical alexia and agraphia affected pitch symbols more than rhythm. Case 2 had conduction aphasia and severe expressive amusia, especially for rhythm. Although his language alexia and agraphia were milder than Case 1's, his musical alexia and agraphia were more severe, affecting rhythm as much as pitch. In neither patient were those aspects of musical notation either closest to verbal language or most dependent upon temporal (sequential) processing maximally impaired. These cases are consistent with the literature in suggesting that the presence or absence of aphasia or of right or left hemispheric damage fails to predict the presence, type, or severity of amusia, including musical alexia and agraphia. The popular notion that receptive amusia follows lesions of the language-dominant temporal lobe, whereas expressive amusia follows non-dominant frontal lobe damage, is an over-simplification, as is the view that increasing musical sophistication causes a shift of musical processing from the right hemisphere to the left.

Library Resources in Special Areas of Music: Film Music.

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, H. Stephen

Intended as an orientation for music librarians unfamiliar with the film music field, this presentation addresses the most common film music questions received from library patrons, including queries about composers, soundtrack albums, the subject of the music, and scores, and describes the basic film music reference sources to consult for…

Music Export from Helsinki to Berlin and vice versa. Case study: Face of God and Ill Kommodity

OpenAIRE

Kuhn, Jennifer

2013-01-01

This is a product - oriented thesis. The aim is to conclude a guidebook about music export for young bands that are interested in playing a show abroad. The project: Music export from Helsinki to Berlin and vice versa. Case study: Face of God and Ill Kommodity, was used to learn from the praxis. The thesis describes the responsibilities of the project manager and brings project management and event planning together. The music export history of Finland and Germany is taken in considerat...

Topic theory and Brazilian musicality: Considerations on rhetoricity in music

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Acácio T. C. Piedade

2013-02-01

Full Text Available This article presents an application of the topic theory to the analyses of Brazilian music. It starts with a reflection on the concepts of musicality, friction of musicalities in Brazilian jazz, and the fusion of musicalities that emerges from the invention of tradition. The discussion follows with the question of the adaptability of topic theory to national musics. Then, some musical examples are used in order to present some of the universes of topics of Brazilian music. In this article I argue that the concept of rhetoricity brings good results to the study of musical signification, and that the theory of topics is useful for other contexts than classical music, being an interesting route to the investigation of sociocultural connections in musicalities.

Music preference in degus (Octodon degus: Analysis with Chilean folk music.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shigeru Watanabe

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Most nonhuman animals do not show selective preference for types of music, but researchers have typically employed only Western classical music in such studies. Thus, there has been bias in music choice. Degus (Octodon degus, originally from the mountain areas of Chile, have highly developed vocal communication. Here, we examined music preference of degus using not only Western classical music (music composed by Bach and Stravinsky, but also South American folk music (Chilean and Peruvian. The degus preferred the South American music to the Western classical music but did not show selective preference between the two Western classical music choices. Furthermore, the degus preferred the Chilean to the Peruvian music to some extent. In the second experiment, we examined preference for music vs. silence. Degus overall showed a preference for Chilean music over silence, but preferred silence over Western music. The present results indicate that the previous negative data for musical preference in nonhuman animals may be due to biased music selection (Krause, 2012. Our results suggest the possibility that the soundscape of an environment influences folk music created by native peoples living there and the auditory preference of other resident animals there.

Musical agents

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dahlstedt, Palle; McBurney, Peter

2006-01-01

The authors, a composer and a computer scientist, discuss their collaborative research on the use of multiagent systems and their applicability to music and musical composition. They describe the development of software and techniques for the composition of generative music.......The authors, a composer and a computer scientist, discuss their collaborative research on the use of multiagent systems and their applicability to music and musical composition. They describe the development of software and techniques for the composition of generative music....

Engaging Musical Practices: A Sourcebook for Middle School General Music

Science.gov (United States)

Burton, Suzanne L., Ed.

2012-01-01

Middle school general music may be a student's last encounter with school music. A practical book with accessible pedagogical resources on middle school general music is needed for methods courses and music practitioners' use. The book "Engaging Musical Practices: A Sourcebook for Middle School General Music" presents numerous ways to engage…

Musical Preference and Music Education: Musical Preferences of Turkish University Students and Their Levels in Genre Identification

Science.gov (United States)

Gürgen, Elif Tekin

2016-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate if there is any relationship between musical preference, genre identification and frequency of listening to music genres, and whether musical training and gender played a role in these factors. A total of 205 college music and non-music majors recorded their preference for 13 music excerpts in popular,…

Music technology in music therapy - A study of the possibilities, potential and problems around the use of music technologies in music therapy with youths and adolescents

OpenAIRE

Misje, René

2013-01-01

Music technology in music therapy - A study of the possibilities, potential and problems around the use of music technologies in music therapy with youths and adolescents. This qualitative study explores the usefulness of music technology in music therapeutic practice with youth and adolescents. Four music therapist`s reflections on their use of music technologies and on the possibilities, potential and problems of this use are explored through semi-structured intervi...

EMBEDDED LINUX BASED ALBUM BROWSER SYSTEM AT MUSIC STORES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suryadiputra Liawatimena

2009-01-01

Full Text Available The goal of this research is the creation of an album browser system at a music store based on embedded Linux. It is expected with this system; it will help the promotion of said music store and make the customers activity at the store simpler and easier. This system uses NFS for networking, database system, ripping software, and GUI development. The research method used are and laboratory experiments to test the system’s hardware using TPC-57 (Touch Panel Computer 5.7" SA2410 ARM-9 Medallion CPU Module and software using QtopiaCore. The result of the research are; 1. The database query process is working properly; 2. The audio data buffering process is working properly. With those experiment results, it can be concluded that the summary of this research is that the system is ready to be implemented and used in the music stores.

Changes in the representation of space and time while listening to music.

Science.gov (United States)

Schäfer, Thomas; Fachner, Jörg; Smukalla, Mario

2013-01-01

Music is known to alter people's ordinary experience of space and time. Not only does this challenge the concept of invariant space and time tacitly assumed in psychology but it may also help us understand how music works and how music can be understood as an embodied experience. Yet research about these alterations is in its infancy. This review is intended to delineate a future research agenda. We review experimental evidence and subjective reports of the influence of music on the representation of space and time and present prominent approaches to explaining these effects. We discuss the role of absorption and altered states of consciousness and their associated changes in attention and neurophysiological processes, as well as prominent models of human time processing and time experience. After integrating the reviewed research, we conclude that research on the influence of music on the representation of space and time is still quite inconclusive but that integrating the different approaches could lead to a better understanding of the observed effects. We also provide a working model that integrates a large part of the evidence and theories. Several suggestions for further research in both music psychology and cognitive psychology are outlined.

Changes in the representation of space and time while listening to music

Science.gov (United States)

Schäfer, Thomas; Fachner, Jörg; Smukalla, Mario

2013-01-01

Music is known to alter people's ordinary experience of space and time. Not only does this challenge the concept of invariant space and time tacitly assumed in psychology but it may also help us understand how music works and how music can be understood as an embodied experience. Yet research about these alterations is in its infancy. This review is intended to delineate a future research agenda. We review experimental evidence and subjective reports of the influence of music on the representation of space and time and present prominent approaches to explaining these effects. We discuss the role of absorption and altered states of consciousness and their associated changes in attention and neurophysiological processes, as well as prominent models of human time processing and time experience. After integrating the reviewed research, we conclude that research on the influence of music on the representation of space and time is still quite inconclusive but that integrating the different approaches could lead to a better understanding of the observed effects. We also provide a working model that integrates a large part of the evidence and theories. Several suggestions for further research in both music psychology and cognitive psychology are outlined. PMID:23964254

Deploying music characteristics for an affective music player

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Zwaag, Marjolein D.; Westerink, Joyce H.D.M.; van den Broek, Egon; Cohn, Jeffrey; Nijholt, Antinus; Pantic, Maja

2009-01-01

This paper describes work toward an affective music player (AMP), which is able to direct affect to a goal state by selecting music. Repeatedly, music has been shown to modulate affect; however, precise guidelines for the use of music characteristics in an AMP have not been defined. To explore

Music as word: Film music - superlibretto?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ćirić Marija

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of his paper is to prove that film music can be understood as authentic narrative force: film music as word / discourse and its superlibretto status. Superlibretto is the status of music in a film which is constructing its own (aural reality and is narrating, speaking its own text which creates a wholesome film meaning. The existence of superlibretto is substantiated by fundamental theoretic concepts of film music and practically proven by analyses of examples taken from the opus of Serbian film composer Zoran Simjanović.

Becoming Music-Making Music Teachers: Connecting Music Making, Identity, Wellbeing, and Teaching for Four Student Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Pellegrino, Kristen

2015-01-01

The purpose of this descriptive case study was to examine the developing music teacher identity of four student music teachers by exploring the meanings of music making and the intersections of music making and teaching. Participants all had dual student teaching placements: elementary general music and secondary band. Data were generated through…

Deploying music characteristics for an affective music player

OpenAIRE

van der Zwaag, Marjolein D.; Westerink, Joyce H.D.M.; van den Broek, Egon; Cohn, Jeffrey; Nijholt, Antinus; Pantic, Maja

2009-01-01

This paper describes work toward an affective music player (AMP), which is able to direct affect to a goal state by selecting music. Repeatedly, music has been shown to modulate affect; however, precise guidelines for the use of music characteristics in an AMP have not been defined. To explore these, we investigated the influence of music characteristics on 32 participants who listened to 16 songs, testing effects of tempo (slow/high), mode (minor/major), and percussiveness (low/high). Subjec...

Drug use and nightlife: more than just dance music.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Havere, Tina; Vanderplasschen, Wouter; Lammertyn, Jan; Broekaert, Eric; Bellis, Mark

2011-07-27

Research over the last decade has focused almost exclusively on the association between electronic music and MDMA (3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine or "ecstasy") or other stimulant drug use in clubs. Less attention has been given to other nightlife venues and music preferences, such as rock music or southern/funky music. This study aims to examine a broader spectrum of nightlife, beyond dance music. It looks at whether certain factors influence the frequency of illegal drug and alcohol use: the frequency of going to certain nightlife venues in the previous month (such as, pubs, clubs or goa parties); listening to rock music, dance music or southern and funky music; or sampling venues (such as, clubs, dance events or rock festivals). The question of how these nightlife variables influence the use of popular drugs like alcohol, MDMA, cannabis, cocaine and amphetamines is addressed. The study sample consisted of 775 visitors of dance events, clubs and rock festivals in Belgium. Study participants answered a survey on patterns of going out, music preferences and drug use. Odds ratios were used to determine whether the odds of being an illegal substance user are higher for certain nightlife-related variables. Furthermore, five separate ordinal regression analyses were used to investigate drug use in relation to music preference, venues visited during the last month and sampling venue. Respondents who used illegal drugs were 2.5 times more likely to report that they prefer dance music. Goa party visitors were nearly 5 times more likely to use illegal drugs. For those who reported visiting clubs, the odds of using illegal drugs were nearly 2 times higher. Having gone to a pub in the last month was associated with both more frequent alcohol use and more frequent illegal substance use. People who reported liking rock music and attendees of rock festivals used drugs less frequently. It was concluded that a more extended recreational environment, beyond dance clubs, is

Drug use and nightlife: more than just dance music

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Broekaert Eric

2011-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Research over the last decade has focused almost exclusively on the association between electronic music and MDMA (3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine or "ecstasy" or other stimulant drug use in clubs. Less attention has been given to other nightlife venues and music preferences, such as rock music or southern/funky music. This study aims to examine a broader spectrum of nightlife, beyond dance music. It looks at whether certain factors influence the frequency of illegal drug and alcohol use: the frequency of going to certain nightlife venues in the previous month (such as, pubs, clubs or goa parties; listening to rock music, dance music or southern and funky music; or sampling venues (such as, clubs, dance events or rock festivals. The question of how these nightlife variables influence the use of popular drugs like alcohol, MDMA, cannabis, cocaine and amphetamines is addressed. Methods The study sample consisted of 775 visitors of dance events, clubs and rock festivals in Belgium. Study participants answered a survey on patterns of going out, music preferences and drug use. Odds ratios were used to determine whether the odds of being an illegal substance user are higher for certain nightlife-related variables. Furthermore, five separate ordinal regression analyses were used to investigate drug use in relation to music preference, venues visited during the last month and sampling venue. Results Respondents who used illegal drugs were 2.5 times more likely to report that they prefer dance music. Goa party visitors were nearly 5 times more likely to use illegal drugs. For those who reported visiting clubs, the odds of using illegal drugs were nearly 2 times higher. Having gone to a pub in the last month was associated with both more frequent alcohol use and more frequent illegal substance use. People who reported liking rock music and attendees of rock festivals used drugs less frequently. Conclusions It was concluded that a

Drug use and nightlife: more than just dance music

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

Background Research over the last decade has focused almost exclusively on the association between electronic music and MDMA (3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine or "ecstasy") or other stimulant drug use in clubs. Less attention has been given to other nightlife venues and music preferences, such as rock music or southern/funky music. This study aims to examine a broader spectrum of nightlife, beyond dance music. It looks at whether certain factors influence the frequency of illegal drug and alcohol use: the frequency of going to certain nightlife venues in the previous month (such as, pubs, clubs or goa parties); listening to rock music, dance music or southern and funky music; or sampling venues (such as, clubs, dance events or rock festivals). The question of how these nightlife variables influence the use of popular drugs like alcohol, MDMA, cannabis, cocaine and amphetamines is addressed. Methods The study sample consisted of 775 visitors of dance events, clubs and rock festivals in Belgium. Study participants answered a survey on patterns of going out, music preferences and drug use. Odds ratios were used to determine whether the odds of being an illegal substance user are higher for certain nightlife-related variables. Furthermore, five separate ordinal regression analyses were used to investigate drug use in relation to music preference, venues visited during the last month and sampling venue. Results Respondents who used illegal drugs were 2.5 times more likely to report that they prefer dance music. Goa party visitors were nearly 5 times more likely to use illegal drugs. For those who reported visiting clubs, the odds of using illegal drugs were nearly 2 times higher. Having gone to a pub in the last month was associated with both more frequent alcohol use and more frequent illegal substance use. People who reported liking rock music and attendees of rock festivals used drugs less frequently. Conclusions It was concluded that a more extended recreational

Structural Segmentation of Toru Takemitsu’s Piece, Itinerant, by Advanced Level Music Graduate Students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jose A. Ordoñana

2017-05-01

Full Text Available This work attempts to study the way higher music graduate students segment a contemporary music work, Itinerant, and to understand the influence of musical feature on segmentation. It attempts to test the theory stating that saliences contribute to organising the music surface. The 42 students listened to the work several times and, in real time, they were requested to indicate the places on the score where they perceived structural boundaries. This work is characterised by its linearity, which could hinder identification of saliences and thereby, the establishment of structural boundaries. The participants show stability in the points of segmentation chosen. The results show significant coincidences among the participants in strategic places of the work, which leads us to conclude, in line with other researches, although in a work with different characteristics, that listeners can find a structural organisation in contemporary music that could allow them to understand it.

Music publishing

OpenAIRE

Simões, Alberto; Almeida, J. J.

2003-01-01

Current music publishing in the Internet is mainly concerned with sound publishing. We claim that music publishing is not only to make sound available but also to define relations between a set of music objects like music scores, guitar chords, lyrics and their meta-data. We want an easy way to publish music in the Internet, to make high quality paper booklets and even to create Audio CD's. In this document we present a workbench for music publishing based on open formats, using open-source t...

进化作曲研究%Research on evolutionary music composer system

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

汪镭; 郑晓妹; 申林

2014-01-01

Algorithmic composition is the most attractive research area in computer music and genetic algorithm-based evolution-ary music composer system has become a hot spot in the algorithmic composition.This paper gives a structure of evolutionary mu-sic composer system,analyzes different goals of music composer systems,and then discusses two types of evolutionary music com-poser system from the aspect of fitness function design.Finally,several instances of evolutionary music composer system are ana-lyzed.%算法作曲是计算机音乐中最具吸引力的研究领域，而基于遗传算法的进化作曲系统已成为算法作曲中的热点。给出了进化作曲系统的结构，分析了系统不同的作曲目标，从适应度函数的设计讨论了两类作曲系统。最后给出了几个作曲系统实例分析。

Characterizing Listener Engagement with Popular Songs Using Large-Scale Music Discovery Data.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaneshiro, Blair; Ruan, Feng; Baker, Casey W; Berger, Jonathan

2017-01-01

Music discovery in everyday situations has been facilitated in recent years by audio content recognition services such as Shazam. The widespread use of such services has produced a wealth of user data, specifying where and when a global audience takes action to learn more about music playing around them. Here, we analyze a large collection of Shazam queries of popular songs to study the relationship between the timing of queries and corresponding musical content. Our results reveal that the distribution of queries varies over the course of a song, and that salient musical events drive an increase in queries during a song. Furthermore, we find that the distribution of queries at the time of a song's release differs from the distribution following a song's peak and subsequent decline in popularity, possibly reflecting an evolution of user intent over the "life cycle" of a song. Finally, we derive insights into the data size needed to achieve consistent query distributions for individual songs. The combined findings of this study suggest that music discovery behavior, and other facets of the human experience of music, can be studied quantitatively using large-scale industrial data.

Characterizing Listener Engagement with Popular Songs Using Large-Scale Music Discovery Data

Science.gov (United States)

Kaneshiro, Blair; Ruan, Feng; Baker, Casey W.; Berger, Jonathan

2017-01-01

Music discovery in everyday situations has been facilitated in recent years by audio content recognition services such as Shazam. The widespread use of such services has produced a wealth of user data, specifying where and when a global audience takes action to learn more about music playing around them. Here, we analyze a large collection of Shazam queries of popular songs to study the relationship between the timing of queries and corresponding musical content. Our results reveal that the distribution of queries varies over the course of a song, and that salient musical events drive an increase in queries during a song. Furthermore, we find that the distribution of queries at the time of a song's release differs from the distribution following a song's peak and subsequent decline in popularity, possibly reflecting an evolution of user intent over the “life cycle” of a song. Finally, we derive insights into the data size needed to achieve consistent query distributions for individual songs. The combined findings of this study suggest that music discovery behavior, and other facets of the human experience of music, can be studied quantitatively using large-scale industrial data. PMID:28386241

Perancangan Sistem Informasi Akademik Lembaga Kursus Demi Music Center

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sugiarto Hartono

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Evolution of technology will bring companies to have appropriate information systems to boost their businesses. Computerized information system is also needed by training courses like Demi Music Center. Demi Music Center realizes that computerized academic information system will help to optimize their business process. The purpose of this research is to analyze the operational business processes and academic administration at the DMC to determine deficiencies and problems occurred, then to provide a draft proposal of the new system in the DMC.. The method used is the method of analysis and design. Data collection methods used in this study was a survey, interviews, and literature. Outcome of this research is a design of academic information system based on desktop application. System can generate report easily and manage the data. Implementation of computerized academic information system can leverage the performance and increase efficiency of business process at Demi Music Center.

The evolutionary biology of musical rhythm: was Darwin wrong?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aniruddh D Patel

2014-03-01

Full Text Available In The Descent of Man, Darwin speculated that our capacity for musical rhythm reflects basic aspects of brain function broadly shared among animals. Although this remains an appealing idea, it is being challenged by modern cross-species research. This research hints that our capacity to synchronize to a beat, i.e., to move in time with a perceived pulse in a manner that is predictive and flexible across a broad range of tempi, may be shared by only a few other species. Is this really the case? If so, it would have important implications for our understanding of the evolution of human musicality.

Control and Chance in Music and Art a Survey of Philosophies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shuang Cai

2018-02-01

Full Text Available This article is a survey and review of several writings on the philosophies and compositional techniques involving control and chance in the creation of modern art and music. The purpose of discussing and comparing these writings is to trace different understandings, reactions, and interpretations of these philosophies in order to offer a more informed perspective on these oft misunderstood techniques. The first article analyzed is Robert Charles Clark’s “Total Control and Chance in Musics: A Philosophical Analysis,” which discusses fundamental issues regarding both total control and chance music. The second article, Stephanie Ross’ “Chance, Constraint, and Creativity: The Awfulness of Modern Music,” presents some of the adverse reactions to these methods of composition. The third and fourth articles, Roland Barthes’ “The Death of the Author” and “From Work to Text,” offer a broader philosophical viewpoint on the different roles of the author and their product when creating art. The final article, Jeongwon Joe and S. Hoon Song’s “Roland Barthes’ ‘Text’ and Aleatoric Music: Is the ‘Birth of the Reader’ the Birth of the Listener?” concludes this survey by tying Barthes’ concepts back to music.

Concluding talk

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hong-Mo, C.

1984-05-01

The concluding talk reviews the present state of knowledge of elementary particle physics, based on the research papers presented at the VII Warsaw symposium. Most of the meeting was devoted to testing the standard electroweak theory and QCD, and these topics were discussed in detail. Other research work on hadron-nucleus collisions, solitons, skyrmion, cluster models, diquarks, infra-red divergences, jet calculus and quantised string was considered. Experimental facilities for future exploration studies, at DESY, CERN and the U.S. were mentioned. (U.K.)

Family involvement in music impacts participation of children with cochlear implants in music education and music activities

Science.gov (United States)

Driscoll, Virginia; Gfeller, Kate; Tan, Xueli; See, Rachel L.; Cheng, Hsin-Yi; Kanemitsu, Mikiko

2014-01-01

Objective Children with cochlear implants (CIs) participate in musical activities in school and daily lives. Considerable variability exists regarding the amount of music involvement and enjoyment. Using the Music Engagement Questionnaire-Preschool/Elementary (MEQ-P/E), we wanted to determine patterns of musical participation and the impact of familial factors on engagement. Methods Parents of 32 children with CIs (16 preschool, 16 elementary) completed a questionnaire regarding the musical involvement of their child with an implant and a normal-hearing (NH) sibling (if one existed). We compared CI children's involvement to that of their NH siblings as well as across groups of children with and without CIs. Correlations between parent ratings of music importance, demographic factors, and involvement of CI and NH children were conducted within and across groups. Results No significant differences were found between children with CIs and NH siblings, meaning children from the same family showed similar levels of musical involvement. When compared at the same developmental stage, no significant differences were found between preschool children with and without CIs. Parents who rated the importance of music as “low” or “middle” had children (NH and CI) who were less involved in music activities. Children whose parents rated music importance as “high” were involved in monthly to weekly music activities with 81.25% reporting daily music listening. Conclusion Despite a less-than-ideal auditory signal for music, preschool and school-aged CI children enjoy and are involved in musical experiences. Families who enjoy and spend a greater amount of time involved in music tend to have children who also engage more actively in music. PMID:25431978

Family involvement in music impacts participation of children with cochlear implants in music education and music activities.

Science.gov (United States)

Driscoll, Virginia; Gfeller, Kate; Tan, Xueli; See, Rachel L; Cheng, Hsin-Yi; Kanemitsu, Mikiko

2015-05-01

Objective Children with cochlear implants (CIs) participate in musical activities in school and daily lives. Considerable variability exists regarding the amount of music involvement and enjoyment. Using the Music Engagement Questionnaire-Preschool/Elementary (MEQ-P/E), we wanted to determine patterns of musical participation and the impact of familial factors on engagement. Methods Parents of 32 children with CIs (16 preschool and 16 elementary) completed a questionnaire regarding the musical involvement of their child with an implant and a normal-hearing (NH) sibling (if one existed). We compared CI children's involvement to that of their NH siblings as well as across groups of children with and without CIs. Correlations between parent ratings of music importance, demographic factors, and involvement of CI and NH children were conducted within and across groups. Results No significant differences were found between children with CIs and NH siblings, meaning children from the same family showed similar levels of musical involvement. When compared at the same developmental stage, no significant differences were found between preschool children with and without CIs. Parents who rated the importance of music as 'low' or 'middle' had children (NH and CI) who were less involved in music activities. Children whose parents rated music importance as 'high' were involved in monthly to weekly music activities with 81.25% reporting daily music listening. Conclusion Despite a less-than-ideal auditory signal for music, preschool and school-aged CI children enjoy and are involved in musical experiences. Families who enjoy and spend a greater amount of time involved in music tend to have children who also engage more actively in music.

(A)musicality in Williams syndrome: examining relationships among auditory perception, musical skill, and emotional responsiveness to music.

Science.gov (United States)

Lense, Miriam D; Shivers, Carolyn M; Dykens, Elisabeth M

2013-01-01

Williams syndrome (WS), a genetic, neurodevelopmental disorder, is of keen interest to music cognition researchers because of its characteristic auditory sensitivities and emotional responsiveness to music. However, actual musical perception and production abilities are more variable. We examined musicality in WS through the lens of amusia and explored how their musical perception abilities related to their auditory sensitivities, musical production skills, and emotional responsiveness to music. In our sample of 73 adolescents and adults with WS, 11% met criteria for amusia, which is higher than the 4% prevalence rate reported in the typically developing (TD) population. Amusia was not related to auditory sensitivities but was related to musical training. Performance on the amusia measure strongly predicted musical skill but not emotional responsiveness to music, which was better predicted by general auditory sensitivities. This study represents the first time amusia has been examined in a population with a known neurodevelopmental genetic disorder with a range of cognitive abilities. Results have implications for the relationships across different levels of auditory processing, musical skill development, and emotional responsiveness to music, as well as the understanding of gene-brain-behavior relationships in individuals with WS and TD individuals with and without amusia.

The Music Industry Council Guide for Music Educators

Science.gov (United States)

Music Educators Journal, 1976

1976-01-01

The Music Industry Council serves as a liaison between the music educators of the United States and the manufacturing and publishing firms that supply the materials and equipment used in music education. Here are specific suggestions for the guidance of music educators in the business contacts essential to their teaching programs. (Editor/RK)

Music and Music Education: Theory and Praxis for "Making a Difference"

Science.gov (United States)

Regelski, Thomas A.

2005-01-01

The "music appreciation as contemplation" paradigm of traditional aesthetics and music education assumes that music exists to be contemplated for itself. The resulting distantiation of music and music education from life creates a legitimation crisis for music education. Failing to make a noteworthy musical difference for society, a politics of…

Effect of music intervention on apathy in nursing home residents with dementia.

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Qiubi; Zhou, Ying; Yang, Shuixian; Thomas, Wong Kwok Shing; Smith, Graeme D; Yang, Zhi; Yuan, Lexin; Chung, Joanne Wai-Yee

2018-03-15

This study examined the effectiveness of group music intervention in the treatment of nursing home residents with apathy. Apathy can clinically defined with a score of 40 or above on the apathy evaluation scale (AES). Seventy-seven residents were randomly assigned to the intervention or control group. The intervention group was given a music intervention programme, which included listening to traditional music, including nostalgic songs, and playing musical instruments three times a week, for a total of twelve weeks. Results demonstrated a decrease in apathy scores in the intervention group (z = 4.667, P  0.05). Cognitive function, as assessed by Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) score, was stable in the intervention group (t = 1.720, P > 0.05), but declined in the control group (t = -1.973, P <0.05). We conclude that music intervention has the potential to be an effective therapy for the treatment of apathy in the early stages of dementia. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Music, Music Education, and Institutional Ideology: A Praxial Philosophy of Musical Sociality

Science.gov (United States)

Regelski, Thomas A.

2016-01-01

Music is a human action (praxis), guided by intentionality, that embodies sociality. The many significant "social" values of music, however, get lost in high-minded but faulty claims that music's essential value is to promote aesthetic experience. A survey of some basic aesthetic premises demonstrates that claims for "proper"…

Anxiety, Sadness, and Emotion Specificity: The Role of Music in Consumer Emotion and Advertisement Evaluation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Felix Septianto

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Although music could diversely influence consumer judgment process and behavior, it is still unclear whether music can evoke discrete emotions on consumers and influence consumer evaluation toward certain advertisements. This research proposes that music could evoke sad and anxious emotion on consumers; subsequently, consumers would regulate their negative emotions in accordance to their emotion orientations: Consumers who feel sad would show high evaluation toward happy-themed advertisement, while consumers who feel anxious would show high evaluation toward calm-themed advertisement. This paper concludes with the discussion of theoretical and practical implications and conclusion of this study.

An Analysis of Music Fan towards Music Streaming Purchase Intention of Thailand's Music Industry

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Sanitnarathorn, Pannawit

2018-01-01

Digital music streaming are climbing but overall music revenue is declining with digital music piracy being blamed as the culprit. In a 10 year period from 2003 to 2013, global music sales dropped from $US23.3 to $US15 billion dollars with Thailand's music industry following the trend dropping from $US 304 million in 2010 to $US 279 million in…

Opportunistic Music

OpenAIRE

Hachet , Martin; Kian , Arash; Berthaut , Florent; Franco , Jean-Sébastien; Desainte-Catherine , Myriam

2009-01-01

International audience; While mixed reality has inspired the development of many new musical instruments, few approaches explore the potential of mobile setups. We present a new musical interaction concept, called "opportunistic music". It allows musicians to recreate a hardware musical controller using any objects of their immediate environment. This approach benefits from the physical properties of real objects for controlling music. Our prototype is based on a stereo-vision tracking system...

Effects of mood induction via music on cardiovascular measures of negative emotion during simulated driving.

Science.gov (United States)

Fairclough, Stephen H; van der Zwaag, Marjolein; Spiridon, Elena; Westerink, Joyce

2014-04-22

A study was conducted to investigate the potential of mood induction via music to influence cardiovascular correlates of negative emotions experience during driving behaviour. One hundred participants were randomly assigned to one of five groups, four of whom experienced different categories of music: High activation/positive valence (HA/PV), high activation/negative valence (HA/NV), low activation/positive valence (LA/PV) and low activation/negative valence (LA/NV). Following exposure to their respective categories of music, participants were required to complete a simulated driving journey with a fixed time schedule. Negative emotion was induced via exposure to stationary traffic during the simulated route. Cardiovascular reactivity was measured via blood pressure, heart rate and cardiovascular impedance. Subjective self-assessment of anger and mood was also recorded. Results indicated that low activation music, regardless of valence, reduced systolic reactivity during the simulated journey relative to HA/NV music and the control (no music) condition. Self-reported data indicated that participants were not consciously aware of any influence of music on their subjective mood. It is concluded that cardiovascular reactivity to negative mood may be mediated by the emotional properties of music. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Intuitive Music

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bergstrøm-Nielsen, Carl

2009-01-01

Handbook for people who wish to play or teach freely improvised music and improvisation pieces. With sections on how to start with different types of groups, training of musical awareness, parameters of the musical sound, the history of improvised music and some improvisational pieces....

(A)musicality in Williams syndrome: examining relationships among auditory perception, musical skill, and emotional responsiveness to music

Science.gov (United States)

Lense, Miriam D.; Shivers, Carolyn M.; Dykens, Elisabeth M.

2013-01-01

Williams syndrome (WS), a genetic, neurodevelopmental disorder, is of keen interest to music cognition researchers because of its characteristic auditory sensitivities and emotional responsiveness to music. However, actual musical perception and production abilities are more variable. We examined musicality in WS through the lens of amusia and explored how their musical perception abilities related to their auditory sensitivities, musical production skills, and emotional responsiveness to music. In our sample of 73 adolescents and adults with WS, 11% met criteria for amusia, which is higher than the 4% prevalence rate reported in the typically developing (TD) population. Amusia was not related to auditory sensitivities but was related to musical training. Performance on the amusia measure strongly predicted musical skill but not emotional responsiveness to music, which was better predicted by general auditory sensitivities. This study represents the first time amusia has been examined in a population with a known neurodevelopmental genetic disorder with a range of cognitive abilities. Results have implications for the relationships across different levels of auditory processing, musical skill development, and emotional responsiveness to music, as well as the understanding of gene-brain-behavior relationships in individuals with WS and TD individuals with and without amusia. PMID:23966965

Music matters: preattentive musicality of the human brain.

Science.gov (United States)

Koelsch, Stefan; Schroger, Erich; Gunter, Thomas C

2002-01-01

During listening to a musical piece, unexpected harmonies may evoke brain responses that are reflected electrically as an early right anterior negativity (ERAN) and a late frontal negativity (N5). In the present study we demonstrate that these components of the event-related potential can be evoked preattentively, that is, even when a musical stimulus is ignored. Both ERAN and N5 differed in amplitude as a function of music-theoretical principles. Participants had no special musical expertise; results thus provide evidence for an automatic processing of musical information in onmusicians."

Music Making, Transcendence, Flow, and Music Education

Science.gov (United States)

Bernard, Rhoda

2009-01-01

This study explores the relationship between flow, transcendent music making experiences, transcendent religious experiences, and music education. As a teacher-researcher, I studied my graduate students' autobiographical accounts of their experiences making music. Across these narrative writings produced over the past four years, a pattern…

Computer Music

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, Perry R.

This chapter covers algorithms, technologies, computer languages, and systems for computer music. Computer music involves the application of computers and other digital/electronic technologies to music composition, performance, theory, history, and the study of perception. The field combines digital signal processing, computational algorithms, computer languages, hardware and software systems, acoustics, psychoacoustics (low-level perception of sounds from the raw acoustic signal), and music cognition (higher-level perception of musical style, form, emotion, etc.).

Neurosurgery and Music; Effect of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Science.gov (United States)

Gasenzer, Elena Romana; Kanat, Ayhan; Neugebauer, Edmund

2017-06-01

The nervous system works like a great orchestra. Specifically, the music of Mozart with its "Mozart effect" is appropriate to use in neurosurgery. We investigated the relationship between Mozart's music and neurosurgery. We used digital catalogs like "PubMed" and the libraries of universities. Key words were "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart" and "neurosurgery and music." In the first half of the 20th century, performing neurosurgery on some musicians, such as Maurice Ravel, Josef Hassid, and George Gershwin, resulted in a fatal outcome. The cause of this is probably that neurosurgery had not been developed yet in the first half of the 20th century. In the past 3 decades, the neurosurgical operations of musicians show that musicians have rich associations among auditory, somatic, and sensorial systems. It is clear that we have much to learn from studies about music and brain function that derive from our surgical experiences with patients. The neuronal plasticity of musicians' brains may be different from that of nonmusicians' brains. Musicians with enhanced motor skills have greater capacity for plasticity because of enriched interhemispheric connections. Listening to music and the effect of Mozart in neurosurgical practice, intensive care, or rehabilitation were documented in many studies. As authors, we mean something different: Its effectiveness should be studied. We concluded that in current neurosurgical practice, Mozart has an effect. More research and clinical studies are needed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Axé music: mitos, verdades e world music Axé music: myths, truths and world music

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Armando Alexandre Castro

2010-12-01

Full Text Available O artigo discute a Axé music, oferecendo elementos na tentativa de desconstrução de três mitos nela evidenciados: monocultura, baixa qualidade técnica e sua decadência. A metodologia utilizada privilegia a análise de conteúdo, tendo como meios de verificação e coleta de dados entrevistas semi-estruturadas com músicos, técnicos, produtores e empresários musicais de Salvador, além de pesquisa documental relacionada ao campo musical baiano atual.The article discusses Axé music providing elements in an attempt to deconstruc three myths related to it: monoculture, low technical quality and its decadence. The method used focuses on content analysis, departing from verification of data collected through semi- structured interviews with musicians, technical staff, producers and music business executives from Salvador (Brazil, along with documental research related to the musical scene of Bahia today.

'Rhythmic Music' in Danish Music Education

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Peder Kaj

In Danish state schools from elementary to upper secondary school music is part of curricula at all levels. It is widely accepted that both individuals and culture benefit from art subjects, creative activities etc. This type of motivation was sufficient support for maintaining music as a subject...... and to avoid what was associated with jazz, especially by its opponents. This paper aims at taking stock of the situation in Danish music education during the last decade and at specifying the situation of ‘rhythmic music’ within this context....... at all levels of the educational system from around 1960 to around 2000. This tradition dates back to the 1920s, when the first Social Democratic government in Danish history (1924-26), with Nina Bang as minister of education (probably the first female minister worldwide), in the field of music made...... genre of music, and in Denmark this interest manifested itself in attempts to integrate jazz in the musical education of the youth. A unique genre, the so-called ‘jazz oratorios’, was created by the composer Bernhard Christensen (1906-2004) and the librettist Sven Møller Kristensen (1909- 91...

In Praise of Ambiguity: Musical Subtlety and Merleau-Ponty

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Tiger C. Roholt

2013-01-01

Full Text Available When a jazz, rock, or hip-hop drummer strikes certain notes in each measure slightly late, instead of hearing the degree to which those notes are late, we typically hear the effects of those variations; namely, a groove, the "feel" of a rhythm. Slight variations of pitch function similarly. In this essay, I argue that certain analytic theorists go astray due to their preoccupation with the variations themselves. By invoking Maurice Merleau-Ponty's insights into subtle visual perceptions, and his notion of perceptual indeterminacy, I avoid an account of musical subtlety suggested by Daniel Dennett that is too coarse-grained, as well as the bleak conclusion that certain musical subtleties are ineffable, Diana Raffman's view. I conclude that elements of music that are perceived ambiguously can perform a positive function in such aesthetic experiences: they can mediate or foster emergent qualities; moreover, they must be perceived in this way to do so.

Music interventions for mechanically ventilated patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Bradt, Joke; Dileo, Cheryl

2014-01-01

group. One study found significantly higher sedation scores in the music listening group compared to the control group.No strong evidence was found for reduction in diastolic blood pressure and mean arterial pressure. Furthermore, inconsistent results were found for reduction in heart rate with seven studies reporting greater heart rate reductions in the music listening group and one study a slightly greater reduction in the control group. Music listening did not improve oxygen saturation levels.Four studies examined the effects of music listening on hormone levels but the results were mixed and no conclusions could be drawn.No strong evidence was found for an effect of music listening on mortality rate but this evidence rested on only two trials.Most trials were assessed to be at high risk of bias because of lack of blinding. Blinding of outcome assessors is often impossible in music therapy and music medicine studies that use subjective outcomes, unless the music intervention is compared to another treatment intervention. Because of the high risk of bias, these results need to be interpreted with caution.No studies could be found that examined the effects of music interventions on quality of life, patient satisfaction, post-discharge outcomes, or cost-effectiveness. No adverse events were identified. This updated systematic review indicates that music listening may have a beneficial effect on anxiety in mechanically ventilated patients. These findings are consistent with the findings of three other Cochrane systematic reviews on the use of music interventions for anxiety reduction in medical patients. The review furthermore suggests that music listening consistently reduces respiratory rate and systolic blood pressure. Finally, results indicate a possible beneficial impact on the consumption of sedatives and analgesics. Therefore, we conclude that music interventions may provide a viable anxiety management option to mechanically ventilated patients.

Music Education and Music Therapy. Introduction to Plenary Session 3

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bonde, Lars Ole

2002-01-01

Chairman's introduction to plenary session on the relationship between music therapy and music pedagogics......Chairman's introduction to plenary session on the relationship between music therapy and music pedagogics...

Menstrual cycle phase alters women's sexual preferences for composers of more complex music.

Science.gov (United States)

Charlton, Benjamin D

2014-06-07

Over 140 years ago Charles Darwin first argued that birdsong and human music, having no clear survival benefit, were obvious candidates for sexual selection. Whereas the first contention is now universally accepted, his theory that music is a product of sexual selection through mate choice has largely been neglected. Here, I provide the first, to my knowledge, empirical support for the sexual selection hypothesis of music evolution by showing that women have sexual preferences during peak conception times for men that are able to create more complex music. Two-alternative forced-choice experiments revealed that woman only preferred composers of more complex music as short-term sexual partners when conception risk was highest. No preferences were displayed when women chose which composer they would prefer as a long-term partner in a committed relationship, and control experiments failed to reveal an effect of conception risk on women's preferences for visual artists. These results suggest that women may acquire genetic benefits for offspring by selecting musicians able to create more complex music as sexual partners, and provide compelling support for Darwin's assertion 'that musical notes and rhythm were first acquired by the male or female progenitors of mankind for the sake of charming the opposite sex'.

Danish music education and the 'rhythmic music' concept

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Peder Kaj

2014-01-01

' was avoided and the Danish phrase 'rytmisk musik' (rhythmic music) was created to emphasize the educational and pedagogical content. The aim was also to prevent the prejudicious idea associated with jazz, especially by opponents. The article intends to evaluate the situation of 'rhythmic music' in the context......The article reflects on Danish music education and the concept of 'rhythmic music'. It highligths the so-called "jazz-oratorio", a unique genre, created by the composer Bernhard Christensen (1906-2004) and the librettist Sven Møller Kristensen (1909-91). The article shows that the term 'jazz...... of Danish music education....

Music preference in degus (Octodon degus): Analysis with Chilean folk music.

OpenAIRE

Shigeru Watanabe; Katharina Braun; Maria Mensch; Henning Scheich

2018-01-01

Most nonhuman animals do not show selective preference for types of music, but researchers have typically employed only Western classical music in such studies. Thus, there has been bias in music choice. Degus (Octodon degus), originally from the mountain areas of Chile, have highly developed vocal communication. Here, we examined music preference of degus using not only Western classical music (music composed by Bach and Stravinsky), but also South American folk music (Chilean and Peruvian)....

Truncated RAP-MUSIC (TRAP-MUSIC) for MEG and EEG source localization.

Science.gov (United States)

Mäkelä, Niko; Stenroos, Matti; Sarvas, Jukka; Ilmoniemi, Risto J

2018-02-15

Electrically active brain regions can be located applying MUltiple SIgnal Classification (MUSIC) on magneto- or electroencephalographic (MEG; EEG) data. We introduce a new MUSIC method, called truncated recursively-applied-and-projected MUSIC (TRAP-MUSIC). It corrects a hidden deficiency of the conventional RAP-MUSIC algorithm, which prevents estimation of the true number of brain-signal sources accurately. The correction is done by applying a sequential dimension reduction to the signal-subspace projection. We show that TRAP-MUSIC significantly improves the performance of MUSIC-type localization; in particular, it successfully and robustly locates active brain regions and estimates their number. We compare TRAP-MUSIC and RAP-MUSIC in simulations with varying key parameters, e.g., signal-to-noise ratio, correlation between source time-courses, and initial estimate for the dimension of the signal space. In addition, we validate TRAP-MUSIC with measured MEG data. We suggest that with the proposed TRAP-MUSIC method, MUSIC-type localization could become more reliable and suitable for various online and offline MEG and EEG applications. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Music Aggregators and Intermediation of the Digital Music Market

OpenAIRE

Gałuszka, Patryk

2015-01-01

This article demonstrates that, contrary to popular belief, the advent of the Internet has not made intermediaries in the music market obsolete. Individual artists and independent record labels who want to sell their music in digital music stores must deliver their records via third-party companies called music aggregators. Drawing on the concepts of new institutional economics, the article demonstrates that the emergence of music aggregators is a market response to the high level of transact...

Music, memory, and Alzheimer's disease: is music recognition spared in dementia, and how can it be assessed?

Science.gov (United States)

Cuddy, Lola L; Duffin, Jacalyn

2005-01-01

voice without rhythmic or pitch clues, often prompted EN to sing the tune that correctly accompanied the lyrics. EN's results provide encouraging support for our hypotheses that sparing of musical memory may be a feature of some forms of dementia and that it may be reliably and quantitatively assessed through behavioral observation. The contrast between EN's response to music and her mini-mental status is dramatic. The article concludes with several considerations why music may be preserved in dementia and suggestions to guide future research.

Health music(k)ing - Music therapy or Music and health?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bonde, Lars Ole

2011-01-01

The field of music therapy is expanding rapidly into new areas, practices and interdisciplinary fields, as well as redefining its goals and values. Increasingly "music and health" is used to describe the field when it comes to naming new training programs, new interdisciplinary fields of theory...... by Ken Wilber and Gary Ansdell, is presented and illustrated by empirical examples and references from the literature. Metatheoretical reflections include the relevance of interpersonal or relational psychology and vitality dynamics for the theory and practice of health musicing....

Active music classes in infancy enhance musical, communicative and social development.

Science.gov (United States)

Gerry, David; Unrau, Andrea; Trainor, Laurel J

2012-05-01

Previous studies suggest that musical training in children can positively affect various aspects of development. However, it remains unknown as to how early in development musical experience can have an effect, the nature of any such effects, and whether different types of music experience affect development differently. We found that random assignment to 6 months of active participatory musical experience beginning at 6 months of age accelerates acquisition of culture-specific knowledge of Western tonality in comparison to a similar amount of passive exposure to music. Furthermore, infants assigned to the active musical experience showed superior development of prelinguistic communicative gestures and social behaviour compared to infants assigned to the passive musical experience. These results indicate that (1) infants can engage in meaningful musical training when appropriate pedagogical approaches are used, (2) active musical participation in infancy enhances culture-specific musical acquisition, and (3) active musical participation in infancy impacts social and communication development. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Music Preferences with Regard to Music Education, Informal Infuences and Familiarity of Music Amongst Young People in Croatia

Science.gov (United States)

Dobrota, Snježana; Ercegovac, Ina Reic

2017-01-01

The aim of this research was to investigate the relationship between music preference and music education, informal influences (attending classical music concerts and musical theatre productions) and familiarity of music. The research included students of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Split (N = 341). The results…

Changes in the representation of space and time while listening to music

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas eSchäfer

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Music is known to alter people’s ordinary experience of space and time. Not only does this challenge the concept of invariant space and time tacitly assumed in psychology but it may also help us understand how music works and how music can be understood as an embodied experience. Yet research about these alterations is in its infancy. This review is intended to delineate a future research agenda. We review experimental evidence and subjective reports of the influence of music on the representation of space and time and present prominent approaches to explaining these effects. We discuss the role of absorption and altered states of consciousness and their associated changes in attention and neurophysiological processes, as well as prominent models of human time processing and time experience. After integrating the reviewed research, we conclude that research on the influence of music on the representation of space and time is still quite inconclusive but that integrating the different approaches could lead to a better understanding of the observed effects. We also provide a working model that integrates a large part of the evidence and theories. Several suggestions for further research in both music psychology and cognitive psychology are outlined.

At the crossroads of evolutionary computation and music: self-programming synthesizers, swarm orchestras and the origins of melody.

Science.gov (United States)

Miranda, Eduardo Reck

2004-01-01

This paper introduces three approaches to using Evolutionary Computation (EC) in Music (namely, engineering, creative and musicological approaches) and discusses examples of representative systems that have been developed within the last decade, with emphasis on more recent and innovative works. We begin by reviewing engineering applications of EC in Music Technology such as Genetic Algorithms and Cellular Automata sound synthesis, followed by an introduction to applications where EC has been used to generate musical compositions. Next, we introduce ongoing research into EC models to study the origins of music and detail our own research work on modelling the evolution of melody. Copryright 2004 Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Music therapy improvisation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mira Kuzma

2001-09-01

Full Text Available In this article, the technique of music therapy – music therapy improvisation is introduced. In this form of music therapy the improvising partners share meaning through the improvisation: the improvisation is not an end in itself: it portrays meaning that is personal, complex and can be shared with the partner. The therapeutic work, then, is meeting and matching the client's music in order to give the client an experience of "being known", being responded through sounds and being able to express things and communicate meaningfully. Rather than the client playing music, the therapy is about developing the engagement through sustained, joint improvisations. In music therapy, music and emotion share fundamental features: one may represent the other, i.e., we hear the music not as music but as dynamic emotional states. The concept of dynamic structure explains why music makes therapeutic sense.

Investigation of Higher Brain Functions in Music Composition Using Models of the Cortex Based on Physical System Analogies.

Science.gov (United States)

Leng, Xiaodan

The trion model was developed using the Mountcastle organizational principle for the column as the basic neuronal network in the cortex and the physical system analogy of Fisher's ANNNI spin model. An essential feature is that it is highly structured in time and in spatial connections. Simulations of a network of trions have shown that large numbers of quasi-stable, periodic spatial-temporal firing patterns can be excited. Characteristics of these patterns include the quality of being readily enhanced by only a small change in connection strengths, and that the patterns evolve in certain natural sequences from one to another. With only somewhat different parameters than used for studying memory and pattern recognition, much more flowing and intriguing patterns emerged from the simulations. The results were striking when these probabilistic evolutions were mapped onto pitches and instruments to produce music: For example different simple mappings of the same evolution give music having the "flavor" of a minuet, a waltz, folk music, or styles of specific periods. A theme can be learned so that evolutions have this theme and its variations reoccurring more often. That the trion model is a viable model for the coding of musical structure in human composition and perception is suggested. It is further proposed that model is relevant for examining creativity in the higher cognitive functions of mathematics and chess, which are similar to music. An even higher level of cortical organization was modeled by coupling together several trion networks. Further, one of the crucial features of higher brain function, especially in music composition or appreciation, is the role of emotion and mood as controlled by the many neuromodulators or neuropeptides. The MILA model whose underlying basis is zero-level representation of Kac-Moody algebra is used to modulate periodically the firing threshold of each network. Our preliminary results show that the introduction of "neuromodulation

Teaching Popular Music: Investigating Music Educators' Perceptions and Preparation

Science.gov (United States)

Springer, D. Gregory

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate in-service music teachers' perceptions of popular music in the classroom and to examine their own preparation to teach popular music. A sample of music teachers, drawn from two regional chapters of the American Orff-Schulwerk Association, completed a researcher-designed survey instrument. Results…

The effects of sedative music, arousal music, and silence on electrocardiography signals.

Science.gov (United States)

Dousty, Mehdy; Daneshvar, Sabalan; Haghjoo, Majid

2011-01-01

Research indicates that music can affect heart rate, blood pressure, and skin conductance. Music can stimulate central emotions in the brain and release biochemical materials that change the physiologic state. We sought to compare changes in the electrical function of the heart in response to music. Subjects were asked to listen to 2 types of music, namely, sedative and arousal music, in conjunction with two 30-second periods of complete silence. The experiment was conducted in 4 segments: the first and third parts were silence, and the second and fourth parts were music. First, the response to each type of music was compared with that to the preceding period of silence. Next, the responses to both types of music were compared. Finally, the response to music regardless of the type was compared with that to silence. The amplitude of polarization and depolarization changed in response to different kinds of music. The electrical function of the heart in response to music, irrespective of the music type, differed from that in response to silence. The 2 types of music impacted the electrical function of the heart in different ways: the arousal music influenced T-wave maximum amplitude, whereas no such change was recorded in response to the sedative music. The bandwidth of the polarization and depolarization of the heart rate and R-wave amplitude increased in response to music by comparison with silence. In addition, the heart did not seem to try to synchronize with music. The mean R-wave amplitude in sedative music is higher than the arousal music, so our heart works differently when different types of music are heard. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Music goes social! : music startups' viewpoints on marketing communications, social media and music industry

OpenAIRE

Vermasheinä, Kaisa

2011-01-01

This thesis studies Finnish music industry startups’ viewpoints on marketing communica-tions and social media, as well as their views on the future of the music business. Four Finland based music industry startups were interviewed for the study. Separate chapters deal with the framework of the study: marketing communications, social media and music industry. During the past few years a number of startup companies have been established in Finland with the aim of providing online and digit...

Music and the Media, with Particular Attention to the Film

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fulvio Šuran

2013-09-01

Full Text Available This report has originated from the need to synthesize, without any claims, the big love between these two forms of art, music and the cinema, which together conceive a unique sublime art. The 20th century, attuned with the great cultural and social changes, witnesses the spreading of new forms of show, aimed to escape and entertainment, as well as new forms of music, while figurative art is changing, too. With reference to the spread of the media, the places and occasions of musical consumption are multiplied while musicians are acquiring new professional abilities. All this in the name of culture. But if we assume that culture is information and the media, then, for the social being, information becomes the very condition of survival. Thus, in this age dominated by the media, the struggle for survival is the struggle for mass information. On this point, it is sufficient to follow the relationship between MUSIC and the CINEMA in their historical evolution: from the soundtrack of silent films, to the music of talking films. However, it must be said that the relationship between music and the cinema, maybe because of the very nature of both, the languages, intrinsically progressive and rhythmic, have always been very close. A musical pattern, with all its possible nuances, can express events, feelings and intimate thoughts; silences accompanied by music reveal a character's state of mind much deeper than an hour of dialogues or voice off can do. On the other hand, the images of the film generate sensations that can express themselves completely only through music, which sometimes becomes an integral part of the plot of the film. The present report ends with my personal homage to recently died Ken Russell, one of the most original film directors, first rate «master» in the art of shocking dull minds, the artist who brought classical music to a completely new and large public: a big iconoclast able to transform marble busts into flesh and blood.

Music and Health Promotion - In the Life of Music Therapy and Music Psychology Researchers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bonde, Lars Ole

2014-01-01

on music and identity and more specifically to the author’s study of health themes in the musical autobiographies of music therapy students at Aalborg University (DK). The analysis shows that there are some specific themes in the professional’s narratives, however, the researchers are very much in line......In August 2013 Center for Music and Health published its first anthology in English on ‘Musical Life Stories’. 17 authors from 6 countries present their research on the influence of music in a lifelong health perspective. A unique feature in the book is a collection of “personal narratives......” by the authors. In a free form each author wrote a short narrative of music’s influence on their identity and health in a life span perspective. The present article is a thematic analysis of these 13 narratives. The themes identified are briefly related more generally to the international research literature...

Visualizing Music: The Archaeology of Music-Video.

Science.gov (United States)

Berg, Charles M.

Music videos, with their characteristic visual energy and frenetic music-and-dance numbers, have caught on rapidly since their introduction in 1981, bringing prosperity to a slumping record industry. Creating images to accompany existing music is, however, hardly a new idea. The concept can be traced back to 1877 and Thomas Edison's invention of…

A Socratic Dialogue with Libby Larsen on Music, Musical Experience in American Culture, and Music Education

Science.gov (United States)

Strand, Katherine; Larsen, Libby

2011-01-01

This article represents conversations with the American composer Libby Larsen in which she described her beliefs about music, music education, and the dilemmas that our current system faces as we seek to provide relevant and meaningful music education to our students. Our conversation explores such topics as cognitive psychology, music theory,…

Music Education through Popular Music Festivals: A Study of the "OM Music Festival" in Ontario, Canada

Science.gov (United States)

Snell, Karen

2005-01-01

Most people think of the teaching and learning of music as taking place in formal, institutional contexts like schools and universities. This study looks at the transmission of music teaching and learning that takes place in a more informal, musical environment, namely at a "popular music festival." In particular, it discusses the OM…

What Is Music Therapy?

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American Music Therapy Association Home Contact News Help/FAQ Members Only Login About Music Therapy & AMTA What is Music Therapy? Definition and ... is Music Therapy? Print Email Share What is Music Therapy What is Music Therapy? Music Therapy is ...

Symmetry in music

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Herrero, O F, E-mail: o.f.herrero@hotmail.co [Conservatorio Superior de Musica ' Eduardo Martinez Torner' Corrada del Obispo s/n 33003 - Oviedo - Asturias (Spain)

2010-06-01

Music and Physics are very close because of the symmetry that appears in music. A periodic wave is what music really is, and there is a field of Physics devoted to waves researching. The different musical scales are the base of all kind of music. This article tries to show how this musical scales are made, how the consonance is the base of many of them and how symmetric they are.

Symmetry in music

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Herrero, O F

2010-01-01

Music and Physics are very close because of the symmetry that appears in music. A periodic wave is what music really is, and there is a field of Physics devoted to waves researching. The different musical scales are the base of all kind of music. This article tries to show how this musical scales are made, how the consonance is the base of many of them and how symmetric they are.

Laterality for music perception in musicians, mathematicians, and dancers: jumping to conclusions.

Science.gov (United States)

Gordon, H W

1993-06-01

Group differences for ear asymmetries for a melodies task were reported for talented music, mathematics, and dance students. Evidence is presented that it is premature to conclude that these group differences were the result of specialized training in their areas of expertise.

The value of traditional African religious music into liturgy: Lobethal Congregation

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Morakeng E.K. Lebaka

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to discover whether the integration of traditional African religious music into Evangelical Lutheran liturgical church services, could effect a change in member attendance and/or participation. To achieve this, the study employed direct observation, video recordings and informal interviews. In addition, church records of attendance during Holy Communion once a month between 2008 and 2013 were accessed. The study was done at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Lobethal Congregation (Arkona Parish, Northern Diocese, Sekhukhune District, Limpopo Province, South Africa. It was demonstrated that church attendance increased dramatically after traditional African religious music was introduced into the Evangelical Lutheran liturgical services in 2011. Observations and video recordings showed that drums, rattles, horns and whistles were used. Handclapping was seen to act almost as a metronome, which steadily maintained the tempo. It was concluded that introducing traditional African religious music into Evangelical Lutheran liturgical church services has increased attendance and participation of church members. Therefore, the introduction of African religious music could be considered for other Evangelical Lutheran congregations in Africa.

Musical Empathy, Emotional Co-Constitution, and the “Musical Other”

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Deniz Peters

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Musical experience can confront us with emotions that are not currently ours. We might remain unaffected by them, or be affected: retreat from them in avoidance, or embrace them and experience them as ours. This suggests that they are another's. Whose are they? Do we arrive at them through empathy, turning our interest to the music as we do to others in an interpersonal encounter? In addressing these questions, I differentiate between musical and social empathy, rejecting the idea that the emotions arise as a direct consequence of empathizing with composers or performers. I argue that musical perception is doubly active: bodily knowledge can extend auditory perception cross-modally, which, in turn, can orient a bodily hermeneutic. Musical passages thus acquire adverbial expressivity, an expressivity which, as I discuss, is co-constituted, and engenders a "musical other." This leads me to a reinterpretation of the musical persona and to consider a dialectic between social and musical empathy that I think plays a central role in the individuation of shared emotion in musical experience. Musical empathy, then, occurs via a combination of self-involvement and self-effacement—leading us first into, and then perhaps beyond, ourselves.

We "Are" Musical

Science.gov (United States)

Welch, Graham F.

2005-01-01

The challenge for music education is to nurture and develop each individual's basic musicality. Assuming normal neurological functioning and development, we are all musical. Our musical development begins pre-birth, with musical behaviours in one form or another being evident across the lifespan. Nevertheless, early enculturation can both foster…

RHYTHMIC MUSIC PEDAGOGY: A SCANDINAVIAN APPROACH TO MUSIC EDUCATION

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Hauge Torunn Bakken

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Rhythmic music pedagogy is a relatively new Scandinavian approach to classroom music education that offers a variety of methods and strategies for teaching and learning music, especially within the performance of improvised and rhythmic music. This article is based on two earlier projects published in Norwegian, in which the concept of rytmisk musikkpedagogikk (or “rhythmic music pedagogy” as well as its applications and implications were thoroughly described. This research confirms that rhythmic music pedagogy may be an effective strategy for learning music in general, but most especially for learning skills associated with ensemble musicianship and playing by ear. In a multicultural and fluid society in which there are tendencies toward passivity and fragmentation, it may be more important than ever to maintain the idea of music as a collaborative creative process that extends across borders; in this context, rhythmic music pedagogy can play a central role in children’s social development. As a social medium, ensemble playing requires the participant to decentralize socially, since the perspectives of the other participants are necessary for a successful performance. The activity’s general potential for re-structuring social settings and moving boundaries in a positive way should not be underestimated.

Rock and roll and neofolk music in Yugoslavia and Serbia

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Đurković Miša

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Rock and roll (including pop-rock and neo-folk are two the most dominant popular music genres of this region in the last half century. Five decades of living together have brought the different relationships between them and the different perceptions of these relationships. Unfortunately reflection of ideological discourse dominated in relation to objective and professional research and monitoring of the evolution of both genres, which would necessarily include the analysis of cross-overing, lending and other forms of proliferation that certainly marked their evolution. This kind of topic deserves serious monographic study. But since there are no neither sketches of this process, we intend to offer in the form of article one such analysis, to demonstrate how this proliferation flowed and led to a convergence of some of the main trends within both genres. The author first displays tradition of integrating of folk elements in domestic rock and roll, and then presents the evolution of neo-folk toward modern expressions which includes many loans from the Rock and Roll. In this regard, there are also various other methodological issues that are partially dis­cussed by the end of the text. As for example. question of how to distinguish between neo-folk and World music.

The musical identities of Danish music therapy students : a study based on musical autobiographies

OpenAIRE

Bonde, Lars Ole

2013-01-01

Music therapists need both advanced musical and therapeutic skills to work as ‘health musicians’ in the vast area of ‘health musicking’ (Trondalen & Bonde, 2012), which ranges from working with groups in the community to individual sessions with mental health patients in hospital clinics. The balance between musical and therapeutic skills in this training is the subject of continuous discussion in the training program at Aalborg University, as are the ways in which the musical identity of a m...

Music Radio as a Format Remediated for the Stream-Based Music Use

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ægidius, Andreas Lenander

What do music radio and music streaming have in common? The curated flow of music. Radio is featured in the main section of the Spotify user interface. Apple employs radio host for their streaming service, Apple Music. Music streaming and music radio seem closely related. Even in their use...... this theoretical contribution with reference to several empirical studies of everyday music streaming use and the fact that radio holds a significant position as both a stand-alone medium and as a contributing format within streaming music use. Why else does Spotify provide radio(s) and Apple Music likewise employ...

Music Composition from the Brain Signal: Representing the Mental State by Music

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Dan Wu

2010-01-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes a method to translate human EEG into music, so as to represent mental state by music. The arousal levels of the brain mental state and music emotion are implicitly used as the bridge between the mind world and the music. The arousal level of the brain is based on the EEG features extracted mainly by wavelet analysis, and the music arousal level is related to the musical parameters such as pitch, tempo, rhythm, and tonality. While composing, some music principles (harmonics and structure were taken into consideration. With EEGs during various sleep stages as an example, the music generated from them had different patterns of pitch, rhythm, and tonality. 35 volunteers listened to the music pieces, and significant difference in music arousal levels was found. It implied that different mental states may be identified by the corresponding music, and so the music from EEG may be a potential tool for EEG monitoring, biofeedback therapy, and so forth.

Music & Wellbeing

OpenAIRE

Garrido, Gemma; Camps, Laia; Herrera, Isabel Herrera; Guillamat, Roser; Vallés, Vicenç; Sanz, Maite; Martínez, Joan

2016-01-01

Introduction: Scientific literature suggests that music may serve as therapeutic function among populations with different illnesses or disorders. Functional neuroimaging studies that incorporate music activity or music method shown an increase activation in several brain areas, with widespread bilateral hemodynamic responses in occipital lobe, bilateral cerebellum, temporal lobe, in the right lateral prefrontal cortex as well hemodynamic responses in the left middle frontal gyrus.Music activ...

Re-Appraising Ideas of Musicality in Intercultural Contexts of Music Education

Science.gov (United States)

O'Flynn, John

2005-01-01

This article examines ideas of musicality as they may apply to local, national and intercultural contexts of music education. Conceptions of multicultural music education are explored in the light of alternative approaches to musicality adapted from ethnomusicological perspectives. It is argued that while recently published music curricula in many…

Exploring the Benefits of Music-Making as Professional Development for Music Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Pellegrino, Kristen

2011-01-01

Although much has been written about professional development in general education and music education literature, little has addressed the benefits of music-making as meaningful professional development for music teachers. For music teachers, music-making and meanings of music-making have been connected with teachers' identity, well-being,…

General Music Teachers' Attitudes and Practices Regarding Multicultural Music Education in Malaysia

Science.gov (United States)

Wong, Kwan Yie; Pan, Kok Chang; Shah, Shahanum Mohd

2016-01-01

This study examined the utilisation of multicultural music education by Malaysian music teachers, with an emphasis on the relationship between music teachers' attitudes and their subsequent degree of effort in developing and implementing multicultural music education in their music classes. Respondents for the study were 456 music teachers;…

Review of music: Forgotten musical magazine of inter-war Belgrade

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Vasić Aleksandar

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The monthly magazine Review of Music was published six times in Belgrade from January to June 1940. Each edition comprised thirty-two pages, half of which were devoted to a sheet-music supplement, popular compositions of the time for voice and piano. Review of Music published 222 articles and scores in total. The aim of the magazine was to popularise classical music, but it also encompassed jazz, films and film music, theatre, literature, fashion, and even sport. Review of Music was different from all other Serbian inter-war music magazines, not only because of its wide range of topics, but also because it published anonymous articles, probably taken from other sources, but it is not known from where. This study analyses the articles about classical music in Review of Music. In several short chapters the author presents the concept of the magazine, its genre structure, themes addressed, and the style of its music writers. Selected examples show that article authors tended to exploit elements of narrative (with an emphasis on impressive details, humour, and moral teaching. The authors also especially emphasized the neutral attitude of Review of Music towards contemporary music, although the magazine published different views of contemporary composers concerning the aesthetics of modern music. Review of Music started four months after Germany invaded Poland. However, in the journal references to social and political events are non-existant. The journal seems to have been interested only in culture and the arts. However, the author of this study presents examples in which the political circumstances of the time can be perceived. One of these examples is the visit of the Frankfurt Opera House to Belgrade in 1940. That extraordinary cultural event was attended by Prince Paul Karađorđević and Princess Olga, the Yugoslav Prime Minister, and almost all other government ministers. In this news, any authority on the political situation of the time

How musical training affects cognitive development: rhythm, reward and other modulating variables.

Science.gov (United States)

Miendlarzewska, Ewa A; Trost, Wiebke J

2013-01-01

Musical training has recently gained additional interest in education as increasing neuroscientific research demonstrates its positive effects on brain development. Neuroimaging revealed plastic changes in the brains of adult musicians but it is still unclear to what extent they are the product of intensive music training rather than of other factors, such as preexisting biological markers of musicality. In this review, we synthesize a large body of studies demonstrating that benefits of musical training extend beyond the skills it directly aims to train and last well into adulthood. For example, children who undergo musical training have better verbal memory, second language pronunciation accuracy, reading ability and executive functions. Learning to play an instrument as a child may even predict academic performance and IQ in young adulthood. The degree of observed structural and functional adaptation in the brain correlates with intensity and duration of practice. Importantly, the effects on cognitive development depend on the timing of musical initiation due to sensitive periods during development, as well as on several other modulating variables. Notably, we point to motivation, reward and social context of musical education, which are important yet neglected factors affecting the long-term benefits of musical training. Further, we introduce the notion of rhythmic entrainment and suggest that it may represent a mechanism supporting learning and development of executive functions. It also hones temporal processing and orienting of attention in time that may underlie enhancements observed in reading and verbal memory. We conclude that musical training uniquely engenders near and far transfer effects, preparing a foundation for a range of skills, and thus fostering cognitive development.

How musical training affects cognitive development: rhythm, reward and other modulating variables.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ewa Aurelia Miendlarzewska

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Musical training has recently gained additional interest in education as increasing neuroscientific research demonstrates its positive effects on brain development. Neuroimaging revealed plastic changes in the brains of adult musicians but it is still unclear to what extent they are the product of intensive music training rather than of other factors, such as preexisting biological markers of musicality. In this review, we synthesize a large body of studies demonstrating that benefits of musical training extend beyond the skills it directly aims to train and last well into adulthood. For example, children who undergo musical training have better verbal memory, second language pronunciation accuracy, reading ability and executive functions. Learning to play an instrument as a child may even predict academic performance and IQ in young adulthood. The degree of observed structural and functional adaptation in the brain correlates with intensity and duration of practice. Importantly, the effects on cognitive development depend on the timing of musical initiation due to sensitive periods during development, as well as on several other modulating variables. Notably, we point to motivation, reward and social context of musical education, which are important yet neglected factors affecting the long-term benefits of musical training. Further, we introduce the notion of rhythmic entrainment and suggest that it may represent a mechanism supporting learning and development of executive functions. It also hones temporal processing and orienting of attention in time that may underlie enhancements observed in reading and verbal memory. We conclude that musical training uniquely engenders near and far transfer effects, preparing a foundation for a range of skills, and thus fostering cognitive development.

Music Communication, Projection and Analogy of Handicapped Children in Music Therapy

OpenAIRE

Lipský, Matěj

2014-01-01

/Abstract Music Communication, Projection and Analogy of Handicapped Children in Music Therapy Presented work takes an interest in music contents produced by handicapped children attending music therapy sessions. The contents of music were gained from the children by the method of improvisation, particularly by "concert technique". In the theoretical part we present philosophical background for the music therapy in a field of special education and research. This background thought we have fou...

The Band Effect – physically strenuous music making increases aesthetic appreciation of music

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Thomas Hans Fritz

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The aesthetic appreciation of music is strongly influenced by cultural background and personal taste. One would expect that this would complicate the utilizability of musical feedback in paradigms, such that music would only be perceived as a reward if it complies to personal aesthetic appreciation. Here we report data where we assessed aesthetic appreciation of music after 1. a physically strenuous music improvisation and 2. after passive music listening (where participants aesthetically assessed similar music. Data are reported from two experiments where different patient groups performed Jymmin, a music feedback method where exercise equipment is modified in such a way that it can be played like musical instruments by modulating musical parameters in a composition software. This combines physical exertion with musical performance in a fashion that has previously been shown to have a number of positive psychological effects such as enhanced mood and reduced perceived exertion. In both experiments aesthetic appreciation of musical presentations during Jymmin and a control condition without musical agency were compared. Data show that both patient groups perceived the musical outcome of their own performance as more aesthetically pleasing than similar music they listened to passively. This suggests that the act of making music (when combined with physical exertion is associated with a positivity bias about the perceived aesthetical quality of the musical outcome. The outcome of personal musical agency thus tends to be perceived as rewarding even if it does not comply with personal aesthetic appreciation. This suggests that musical feedback interventions may not always have to be highly individualized because individual taste may not always be crucial. The results also suggest that the method applied here may be efficient at encouraging music listeners to actively explore new musical styles that they might otherwise be reluctant to listen to (e

Music makes a difference?! : The values of music

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Karolien Dons

2013-01-01

Music and culture play a significant role in the political and societal development of a peaceful and integrative Europe. Music and its diverse expressions are extremely relevant for social cohesion, wellbeing and economic growth. What kind of an impact can music have? And how can we combine

The Meaning of Musical Instruments and Music Technologies in Children's Lives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bang, Jytte Susanne

2014-01-01

with a musical instrument. The more so when what is practiced by the instrument is classical music. This gap between music as consumed (listening to) and music as practiced (playing) is interesting from a developmental perspective: what does it mean for a child to play a musical instrument? And in which ways may...

Genomics studies on musical aptitude, music perception, and practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Järvelä, Irma

2018-03-23

When searching for genetic markers inherited together with musical aptitude, genes affecting inner ear development and brain function were identified. The alpha-synuclein gene (SNCA), located in the most significant linkage region of musical aptitude, was overexpressed when listening and performing music. The GATA-binding protein 2 gene (GATA2) was located in the best associated region of musical aptitude and regulates SNCA in dopaminergic neurons, thus linking DNA- and RNA-based studies of music-related traits together. In addition to SNCA, several other genes were linked to dopamine metabolism. Mutations in SNCA predispose to Lewy-body dementia and cause Parkinson disease in humans and affect song production in songbirds. Several other birdsong genes were found in transcriptome analysis, suggesting a common evolutionary background of sound perception and production in humans and songbirds. Regions of positive selection with musical aptitude contained genes affecting auditory perception, cognitive performance, memory, human language development, and song perception and production of songbirds. The data support the role of dopaminergic pathway and their link to the reward mechanism as a molecular determinant in positive selection of music. Integration of gene-level data from the literature across multiple species prioritized activity-dependent immediate early genes as candidate genes in musical aptitude and listening to and performing music. © 2018 New York Academy of Sciences.

[Beneficial effect of preferred music on cognitive functions in minimally conscious state patients].

Science.gov (United States)

Verger, J; Ruiz, S; Tillmann, B; Ben Romdhane, M; De Quelen, M; Castro, M; Tell, L; Luauté, J; Perrin, F

2014-11-01

Several studies have shown that music can boost cognitive functions in normal and brain-damaged subjects. A few studies have suggested a beneficial effect of music in patients with a disorder of consciousness but it is difficult to conclude since they did not use quantified measures and a control condition/group. The aim of the present study was to compare the effect of music to that of a continuous sound on the relational behavior of patients in a minimally conscious state (MCS). Behavioral responses of six MCS patients were evaluated using items from the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised. Weekly evaluation sessions were carried out, over four weeks, under two conditions: following the presentation of either the patient's preferred music, or following a continuous sound (control condition). Qualitative and quantitative analyses showed that twelve of the eighteen sessions (66.6%) showed a better result for the music condition than for the control condition. This new protocol suggests that preferred music has a beneficial effect on the cognitive abilities of MCS patients. The results further suggest that cerebral plasticity may be enhanced in autobiographical (emotional and familiar) contexts. These findings should now be further extended with an increased number of patients to further validate the hypothesis of the beneficial effect of music on cognitive recovery. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Music and speech distractors disrupt sensorimotor synchronization: effects of musical training.

Science.gov (United States)

Białuńska, Anita; Dalla Bella, Simone

2017-12-01

Humans display a natural tendency to move to the beat of music, more than to the rhythm of any other auditory stimulus. We typically move with music, but rarely with speech. This proclivity is apparent early during development and can be further developed over the years via joint dancing, singing, or instrument playing. Synchronization of movement to the beat can thus improve with age, but also with musical experience. In a previous study, we found that music perturbed synchronization with a metronome more than speech fragments; music superiority disappeared when distractors shared isochrony and the same meter (Dalla Bella et al., PLoS One 8(8):e71945, 2013). Here, we examined if the interfering effect of music and speech distractors in a synchronization task is influenced by musical training. Musicians and non-musicians synchronized by producing finger force pulses to the sounds of a metronome while music and speech distractors were presented at one of various phase relationships with respect to the target. Distractors were familiar musical excerpts and fragments of children poetry comparable in terms of beat/stress isochrony. Music perturbed synchronization with the metronome more than speech did in both groups. However, the difference in synchronization error between music and speech distractors was smaller for musicians than for non-musicians, especially when the peak force of movement is reached. These findings point to a link between musical training and timing of sensorimotor synchronization when reacting to music and speech distractors.

Does Far Transfer Exist? Negative Evidence From Chess, Music, and Working Memory Training.

Science.gov (United States)

Sala, Giovanni; Gobet, Fernand

2017-12-01

Chess masters and expert musicians appear to be, on average, more intelligent than the general population. Some researchers have thus claimed that playing chess or learning music enhances children's cognitive abilities and academic attainment. We here present two meta-analyses assessing the effect of chess and music instruction on children's cognitive and academic skills. A third meta-analysis evaluated the effects of working memory training-a cognitive skill correlated with music and chess expertise-on the same variables. The results show small to moderate effects. However, the effect sizes are inversely related to the quality of the experimental design (e.g., presence of active control groups). This pattern of results casts serious doubts on the effectiveness of chess, music, and working memory training. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings; extend the debate to other types of training such as spatial training, brain training, and video games; and conclude that far transfer of learning rarely occurs.

Music Links--A Music Ensemble Outreach Programme for Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Chong, Sylvia

2011-01-01

Professional music communities have realized that if they do not promote their art forms among the youth of today, the future of their music may be in question. Many local ethnic music groups have recognized the need to make the first move and go out to the audiences of the future and bring their brand of music to these audiences. Their task is to…

Concluding remarks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vogt, E.

1989-05-01

The workshop has covered in a very interesting and complete way the basic physics issues to be addressed by the complementary facilities, in Canada and Japan, intended to explore the intensity-frontier of strong-interaction physics. Japan has its new KEK facilities and its future Japanese Hadron Project (JHP): Canada has its present TRIUMF laboratory and its future KAON Factory. Both JHP and KAON appear very near to final construction approval. The possibilities are very great for new joint programs between the two countries which can lead the world in the new strong interaction physics. These concluding remarks describe the general science basis and particularly the models for the internationalization of science needed to make these new collaborations thrive

Achievement Identification and Evaluation of Musically Gifted Children in Lower Music School

Science.gov (United States)

Arsic, Anica

2016-01-01

Music schools are specific educational institutions which teach children to understand musical language, the rules of musical writing and how to play an instrument. It is assumed that children who enroll in music school have a certain level of "musicality," i.e. possess musical ability. Starting from this premise, in this paper we wanted…

Satire in Music

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leon Stefanija

2011-12-01

Full Text Available The article surveys the scope of satire and suggests its range. It is divided into six sections. The introductory comment (The semantics of music briefly outlines the fact that music has always been a part of communicative endeavors. The historical background of the semantic issues in music is described (Historical surmises, which is necessary to define satire in music as a specific genre combining features from different musical forms. The third section discusses six areas as the most common contexts of musical satire: 1 satirical music theater works, such as the opera Il Girello by Jacopo Melani, the famous Coff ee Cantata (Schweigt Still, plaudert nicht, BWV 211 by Johann Sebastian Bach, Der Schulmeister by Georg Philipp Telemann, The Beggar’s Opera by John Gay, and so on; 2 musical genres associated with satire, either a within vocal-instrumental music; for instance, opera buffa, Singspiel, operetta, cabaret, vaudeville, and so on, or b in instrumental pieces, such as capriccios, grotesques, scherzos, burlesques, and so on; 3 individual features or compositional parts related to satire; for example, in a vocal music, the Satiro in Orfeo by Luigi Rossi, the range of the Orlando character in eighteenth-century opera, who “may be satire, a fool or hero, but never all together” (Harris, 1986, 106, the satirical antihero Matěj Brouček in Leoš Janáček’s work, and also Lady Macbeth, and in b instrumental music, such as the sermon of St. Anthony in Gustav Mahler’s Second Symphony, his marches, and “low-brow tunes,” a number of episodes in Dmitri Shostakovich’s works, and so on; 4 works variously related to criticism, such as the work of Eric Satie, Kurt Weill, Luigi Nono, Maurizio Kagel, and Vinko Globokar, as well as Fran Milčinski (a.k.a. Ježek, Laibach, or Bob Dylan; 5 music journalism, from Johann Beer and Louis-Abel Beffroy de Reigny and his popular pieces de circonstance, to nineteenth-century music journalism, George

Is music a language? : towards a more accurate description of music education

OpenAIRE

Hamm, Martin W

1994-01-01

Today there are many approaches to music education reflecting many different beliefs about what is its goal. Most music educators would agree that their goal is to help students understand music and the practice of making music. The differences arise out of a confusion about what it means to understand music, and in what is significant about the practice of making music. The central problem impeding progress toward a universally applicable, yet logically derived,music curriculum is the lac...

Music, personhood, and eudaimonia: Implications for educative and ethical music education

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David Elliott

2014-11-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes that educative and ethical music making and teaching, which is based on a praxial philosophy of music education (Elliott and Silverman, 2014, can be carried out in a variety of ways that create places and spaces, in schools and community settings, for a variety of human values or “goods” that include, but go beyond, making and listening to classical instrumental music, or any other kind of music, for “the music itself.” One premise of this philosophical discussion is that music does not have one value; music has numerous values, depending on the ways in which it is conceived, used, and taught by people who engage in specific musical styles. For example, when music education is ethically guided—when we teach people not only in and about music, but also through music—we achieve what Aristotle and many other philosophers consider the highest human value—eudaimonia—which is a multidimensional term we explain the body of this paper. Following an examination of three community music settings that exemplify educative and ethical musical interactions, the paper provides a brief explanation of the nature of personhood that draws from embodied, enactive, empathetic, and ecological concepts put forth by several contemporary cognitive scientists and philosophers of mind nature. This sections leads to an examination to main constituents of eudaimonia: happiness and well- being as conceived by various scholars during the last 2500 years. The discussion ends by integrated the above themes with a discussion of a praxial philosophy of music education and its implications for school and community music education.

The concept of illness and music therapy among members of Iyayi ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... therapeutic medium as well as accompaniment to healing rites. The study concludes that Iyayi songs hold much promise for the development of pan African music therapy and as such should be notated. Iyayi songs are of immense benefits in the treatment and management of labour pains, insomnia and general debilities ...

Six Beginning Music Teachers' Music Teacher Role Identities

Science.gov (United States)

Paise, Michele Paynter

2010-01-01

In this study, I used a qualitative approach to explore the music teacher role identities of six beginning music teachers prior to, during, and after their student teaching experience. Data collection included participant-observation, interviews, and e-mail communication. Specifically, I looked at what each of these beginning music teachers…

The Inclusion of Music/the Music of Inclusion

Science.gov (United States)

Lubet, Alex

2009-01-01

The intention of this paper is to situate music within inclusive education. Intersections of music--widely regarded as a "talent" or hyperability--and disability provide unique perspectives on social organisation in general and human valuation in particular. Music is a ubiquitous and an essential component of learning beginning in infancy.…

Infants' Attention to Synthesised Baby Music and Original Acoustic Music

Science.gov (United States)

Merkow, Carla H.; Costa-Giomi, Eugenia

2014-01-01

The distinct music genre known as baby music is based on the premise that infants benefit from music "re-orchestrated for their little ears" ("Baby Einstein Takealong Tunes". (2012). Retrieved December 11, 2012, from http://www.babyeinstein.com/en/products/product_explorer/theme/music/62350/Takealong_Tunes.html). We completed a…

Positive Musical Experiences in Education: Music as a Social Praxis

Science.gov (United States)

Cabedo-Mas, Alberto; Díaz-Gómez, Maravillas

2013-01-01

This research explores the possibilities of music education in relation to improved interpersonal and social relationships. The paper focuses mainly on music teachers in primary and secondary schools in Spain. It aims to collect, analyse and provide arguments to defend a musical education that integrates musical diversity and facilitates the…

MUSIC RADIO-JOURNALISM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dubovtceva Ludmila I.

2014-04-01

Full Text Available The article is based on years of practical experience, the author highlights the main radio genres in which music correspondent, music reviewer, music commentator, and music leading and a disc jockey work. Theoretical principles of their creative activities are analyzed in common journalistic genres, such as interview, reportage, talk show, live broadcast, radiofilm, as well as specialized genres like concert on demand and music competition. Journalist’ speech is seen as a logical element, the incoming with music in art-structural relationships. However, it does not become the predominant sound layer and aims to harmonious correlation or local penetration into music opus. In addition, important links in music journalism are defined the auxiliary "offscreen" editor's job and keeping the original sound archive. The author cites a number of own work examples on the air.

Music to the inner ears: exploring individual differences in musical imagery.

Science.gov (United States)

Beaty, Roger E; Burgin, Chris J; Nusbaum, Emily C; Kwapil, Thomas R; Hodges, Donald A; Silvia, Paul J

2013-12-01

In two studies, we explored the frequency and phenomenology of musical imagery. Study 1 used retrospective reports of musical imagery to assess the contribution of individual differences to imagery characteristics. Study 2 used an experience sampling design to assess the phenomenology of musical imagery over the course of one week in a sample of musicians and non-musicians. Both studies found episodes of musical imagery to be common and positive: people rarely wanted such experiences to end and often heard music that was personally meaningful. Several variables predicted musical imagery, including personality, musical preferences, and positive mood. Musicians tended to hear musical imagery more often, but they reported less frequent episodes of deliberately-generated imagery. Taken together, the present research provides new insights into individual differences in musical imagery, and it supports the emerging view that such experiences are common, positive, and more voluntary than previously recognized. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Musical anhedonia: selective loss of emotional experience in listening to music.

Science.gov (United States)

Satoh, Masayuki; Nakase, Taizen; Nagata, Ken; Tomimoto, Hidekazu

2011-10-01

Recent case studies have suggested that emotion perception and emotional experience of music have independent cognitive processing. We report a patient who showed selective impairment of emotional experience only in listening to music, that is musical anhednia. A 71-year-old right-handed man developed an infarction in the right parietal lobe. He found himself unable to experience emotion in listening to music, even to which he had listened pleasantly before the illness. In neuropsychological assessments, his intellectual, memory, and constructional abilities were normal. Speech audiometry and recognition of environmental sounds were within normal limits. Neuromusicological assessments revealed no abnormality in the perception of elementary components of music, expression and emotion perception of music. Brain MRI identified the infarct lesion in the right inferior parietal lobule. These findings suggest that emotional experience of music could be selectively impaired without any disturbance of other musical, neuropsychological abilities. The right parietal lobe might participate in emotional experience in listening to music.

Music for Social Occasions - Music for Fun, Music for Every Day, Lublaň 21.-23. června 2006

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Bajgarová, Jitka

2006-01-01

Roč. 43, č. 3 (2006), s. 335-336 ISSN 0018-7003. [ Music for Social Occasions - Music for Fun, Music for Every Day. Ljubljana, 210606-230606] Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z90580513 Keywords : Music * social occasions Subject RIV: AL - Art, Architecture, Cultural Heritage

[Music therapy and "brain music": state of the art, problems and perspectives].

Science.gov (United States)

Fedotchev, A I; Radchenko, G S

2013-01-01

Recent literature on the problem of interaction between music and the brain is reviewed and summarized. Mechanisms and effects of two most popular music therapy applications are picked out, including music listening and music making. Special attention is paid to relatively new line of investigations that is called "music of the brain" and deals with transformation of bioelectric processes of human organism into music. Unresolved questions of music therapy are identified and some promising lines of future investigations are delineated.

Music in the family: music making and music therapy with young children and their families.

Science.gov (United States)

Wetherick, Donald

2009-01-01

Songs and singing games are a healthy part of young children's social, emotional and cognitive development. Such shared music making can facilitate and strengthen relationships between parents and children. Family health workers can encourage carers' informal uses of music with their children. In cases of developmental delay, disability, severe illness or family stress, music can continue to have a significant role in supporting children and parents. In some cases referral to specialist music therapy services may be appropriate for assessment and/or treatment.

Music playlist recommendation based on user heartbeat and music preference

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Liu, H.; Hu, J.; Rauterberg, G.W.M.

2009-01-01

In this paper, we present a new user heartbeat and preference aware music recommendation system. The system can not only recommend a music playlist based on the user’s music preference but also the music playlist is generated based on the user’s heartbeat. If the user’s heartbeat is higher than the

Autonomous Evolution of Complete Piano Pieces and Performances

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dahlstedt, Palle

2007-01-01

Evolutionary algorithms are used to evolve musical score material and corresponding performance data, in an autonomous process. In this way complete piano compositions are created and subsequently performed on a computer-controlled grand piano. The efficiency of the creative evolution depends...... gestures. This is combined with a set of automated formalized selection criteria based on experiences from human selection processes in a previous, interactive version of the same system, leading to surprisingly musical output and convincing performances. The system is also capable of rudimentary learning...

Experiments with a musical instrument. The continuator and young children aged between 3-5

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anna Rita Addessi

2009-07-01

Full Text Available The relationship between technology and learning is becoming increasingly important in the field of musical education. However there are few studies regarding the interaction between children and musical instruments. This article looks at a study carried out with children aged between 3 and 5, and a particular interactive musical system: the Continuator, which was created by the SONY-Computer Science Laboratory in Paris. An analysis of the studies shows that the Continuator is capable of developing interesting interaction between children and the machine and creative musical processes in early childhood. It is possible to observe an evolution in interaction and microprocesses similar to those seen in adult/child interaction. The abilty of the system ton to attract and maintain attention in the children as been interpreted through Csikszentmihalyi’s Flow Theory . This article gives an overview of literature regarding musical education and new technologies, a description of the interactive system used in our experimental project, the pilot protocol and the analysis of the two case studies. We also draw certain conclusions regarding the psychological and pedagogical implications of the results.

Musics of "The Other": Creating Musical Identities and Overcoming Cultural Boundaries in Australian Music Education

Science.gov (United States)

Cain, Melissa

2015-01-01

The binary opposition between "own music" and "other's music" is the "result of deep conditioning" (Drummond, 2010, p. 118) and is almost impossible to overcome. By exploring the underlying constructs that influence students' and teachers' perceptions of minority cultures and their musics, this paper explores the…

The music instinct: the evolutionary basis of musicality.

Science.gov (United States)

Mithen, Steven

2009-07-01

Why does music pervade our lives and those of all known human beings living today and in the recent past? Why do we feel compelled to engage in musical activity, or at least simply enjoy listening to music even if we choose not to actively participate? I argue that this is because musicality--communication using variations in pitch, rhythm, dynamics and timbre, by a combination of the voice, body (as in dance), and material culture--was essential to the lives of our pre-linguistic hominin ancestors. As a consequence we have inherited a desire to engage with music, even if this has no adaptive benefit for us today as a species whose communication system is dominated by spoken language. In this article I provide a summary of the arguments to support this view.

Emotional responses to music: towards scientific perspectives on music therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Suda, Miyuki; Morimoto, Kanehisa; Obata, Akiko; Koizumi, Hideaki; Maki, Atsushi

2008-01-08

Neurocognitive research has the potential to identify the relevant effects of music therapy. In this study, we examined the effect of music mode (major vs. minor) on stress reduction using optical topography and an endocrinological stress marker. In salivary cortisol levels, we observed that stressful conditions such as mental fatigue (thinking and creating a response) was reduced more by major mode music than by minor mode music. We suggest that music specifically induces an emotional response similar to a pleasant experience or happiness. Moreover, we demonstrated the typical asymmetrical pattern of stress responses in upper temporal cortex areas, and suggested that happiness/sadness emotional processing might be related to stress reduction by music.

Selling digital music

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hougaard, Jens Leth; Tvede, Mich

2010-01-01

This paper considers the market for digital music. We claim that the combination of the MP3 format and peer-to-peer networks has made music non-excludable and this feature is essential for the understanding of the economics of the music market. We study optimal business models for selling non-exc......, the music industry should concentrate on alternative ways of creating profit such as selling access to listeners, concerts, merchandise, ringtones etc.......This paper considers the market for digital music. We claim that the combination of the MP3 format and peer-to-peer networks has made music non-excludable and this feature is essential for the understanding of the economics of the music market. We study optimal business models for selling non...

Musical Markov Chains

Science.gov (United States)

Volchenkov, Dima; Dawin, Jean René

A system for using dice to compose music randomly is known as the musical dice game. The discrete time MIDI models of 804 pieces of classical music written by 29 composers have been encoded into the transition matrices and studied by Markov chains. Contrary to human languages, entropy dominates over redundancy, in the musical dice games based on the compositions of classical music. The maximum complexity is achieved on the blocks consisting of just a few notes (8 notes, for the musical dice games generated over Bach's compositions). First passage times to notes can be used to resolve tonality and feature a composer.

Is Electronically Amplified Music too Loud? What do Young People Think?

Science.gov (United States)

Mercier, Vlasta; Hohmann, Beat W.

2002-01-01

Listening to loud music has been associated, in a number of studies, with hearing loss and tinnitus among young people. However an unanswered question is whether or not these same young people want to have their music so loud. In our study 533 young men and 167 young women, in the age group 16 to 25, who were attending a vocational training centre, responded to a questionnaire and volunteered to have their hearing assessed. The questionnaire sought information on listening habits, on the kinds of events attended, on whether the music at these events was too loud or not, and if the respondents considered their hearing had been impaired. Analysis of this data indicated that 79% of the subjects attend discotheques, 52% pop and rock concerts, and 35% techno parties (e.g. raves). A significant number considered the music at these venues was too loud. Some 42% considered this was the case at discos, 35% thought pop and rock concerts too loud, and 39% held a similar view of techno parties. Conversely, fewer than 3% considered sound levels at these events to be too low. On the basis of the response to the questionnaire we estimate that over half the respondents (56.6%) have a sound exposure (L(eq)) from music of over 87 dB(A). It is not surprising therefore that 71% reported that they had suffered tinnitus following attendance at a music event. The hearing capacity of the sample was measured by audiometry. These measurements detected hearing loss in 11% of the 700 individuals tested. However it was not possible to show that the risk of hearing loss increased with increasing exposure to loud music. We conclude that young people neither demand nor require the excessive sound levels typical of most music events.

Applying Computer-Assisted Musical Instruction to Music Appreciation Course: An Example with Chinese Musical Instruments

Science.gov (United States)

Lou, Shi-Jer; Guo, Yuan-Chang; Zhu, Yi-Zhen; Shih, Ru-Chu; Dzan, Wei-Yuan

2011-01-01

This study aims to explore the effectiveness of computer-assisted musical instruction (CAMI) in the Learning Chinese Musical Instruments (LCMI) course. The CAMI software for Chinese musical instruments was developed and administered to 228 students in a vocational high school. A pretest-posttest non-equivalent control group design with three…

Human Computer Music Performance

OpenAIRE

Dannenberg, Roger B.

2012-01-01

Human Computer Music Performance (HCMP) is the study of music performance by live human performers and real-time computer-based performers. One goal of HCMP is to create a highly autonomous artificial performer that can fill the role of a human, especially in a popular music setting. This will require advances in automated music listening and understanding, new representations for music, techniques for music synchronization, real-time human-computer communication, music generation, sound synt...

Innovation In Music

OpenAIRE

2014-01-01

The music industry is a fast moving field with new technology and methodological advances combining to catalyse innovations all the time. 'Innovation in Music 2013' was an international conference exploring this topic, held in December 2013 in York, Uk. The event covered specific and cross-disciplinary aspects of the music industry including music creation, technology, production and business, sound engineering, mastering, post production and sound design, games music and cross-disciplinary t...

Complex network structure of musical compositions: Algorithmic generation of appealing music

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Xiao Fan; Tse, Chi K.; Small, Michael

2010-01-01

In this paper we construct networks for music and attempt to compose music artificially. Networks are constructed with nodes and edges corresponding to musical notes and their co-occurring connections. We analyze classical music from Bach, Mozart, Chopin, as well as other types of music such as Chinese pop music. We observe remarkably similar properties in all networks constructed from the selected compositions. We conjecture that preserving the universal network properties is a necessary step in artificial composition of music. Power-law exponents of node degree, node strength and/or edge weight distributions, mean degrees, clustering coefficients, mean geodesic distances, etc. are reported. With the network constructed, music can be composed artificially using a controlled random walk algorithm, which begins with a randomly chosen note and selects the subsequent notes according to a simple set of rules that compares the weights of the edges, weights of the nodes, and/or the degrees of nodes. By generating a large number of compositions, we find that this algorithm generates music which has the necessary qualities to be subjectively judged as appealing.

Montessori and Music.

Science.gov (United States)

Barnett, Elise Braun

1999-01-01

Discusses principles of Montessori music education, examining the fundamental characteristics of childhood and the role that music plays in development. Explores the inner satisfaction that comes from experiencing movement with music through compositions and folk music. Emphasizes the Montessori practices of meeting sensorimotor needs of children…

ACHIEVEMENT IDENTIFICATION AND EVALUATION OF MUSICALLY GIFTED CHILDREN IN LOWER MUSIC SCHOOL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anica Arsic

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Music schools are specific educational institutions which teach children to understand musical language, the rules of musical writing and how to play an instrument. It is assumed that children who enroll in music school have a certain level of “musicality”, i.e. possess musical ability. Starting from this premise, in this paper we wanted to identify the number of musically gifted children, from the total number of children enrolled in the first year of lower music school. The research was conducted on 125 learners who enrolled the first year of Music school Josif Marinkovic in 2014/2015. The paper was organized as a linear study which followed the achievement of learners during the aforementioned school year. The study was conducted by solfeggio and musical instrument teachers. The identification of musical giftedness was followed through the following criteria: recognition and reproduction of tones and intervals, reproduction of rhythmic models and reproduction of short music units. Solfeggio teachers monitored the first two criteria (recognition and reproduction of tones and intervals and reproduction of rhythmic models while musical instrument teachers monitored the other two (reproduction of melody phrases and reproduction of short music units. Achievements were assessed four times during the school year and a comparison of results gathered by solfeggio and musical instrument teacher was conducted. At the end of the school year a result analysis was conducted; the results of which showed that 13 learners who were monitored by solfeggio teachers and 9 learners who were monitored by music instrument teachers successfully completed the criteria. Methods for evaluating the proposed criteria and analysis of the gathered results will be presented in this paper.

From Vivaldi to Beatles and back: predicting lateralized brain responses to music.

Science.gov (United States)

Alluri, Vinoo; Toiviainen, Petri; Lund, Torben E; Wallentin, Mikkel; Vuust, Peter; Nandi, Asoke K; Ristaniemi, Tapani; Brattico, Elvira

2013-12-01

We aimed at predicting the temporal evolution of brain activity in naturalistic music listening conditions using a combination of neuroimaging and acoustic feature extraction. Participants were scanned using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) while listening to two musical medleys, including pieces from various genres with and without lyrics. Regression models were built to predict voxel-wise brain activations which were then tested in a cross-validation setting in order to evaluate the robustness of the hence created models across stimuli. To further assess the generalizability of the models we extended the cross-validation procedure by including another dataset, which comprised continuous fMRI responses of musically trained participants to an Argentinean tango. Individual models for the two musical medleys revealed that activations in several areas in the brain belonging to the auditory, limbic, and motor regions could be predicted. Notably, activations in the medial orbitofrontal region and the anterior cingulate cortex, relevant for self-referential appraisal and aesthetic judgments, could be predicted successfully. Cross-validation across musical stimuli and participant pools helped identify a region of the right superior temporal gyrus, encompassing the planum polare and the Heschl's gyrus, as the core structure that processed complex acoustic features of musical pieces from various genres, with or without lyrics. Models based on purely instrumental music were able to predict activation in the bilateral auditory cortices, parietal, somatosensory, and left hemispheric primary and supplementary motor areas. The presence of lyrics on the other hand weakened the prediction of activations in the left superior temporal gyrus. Our results suggest spontaneous emotion-related processing during naturalistic listening to music and provide supportive evidence for the hemispheric specialization for categorical sounds with realistic stimuli. We herewith introduce

Computational Music Analysis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

This book provides an in-depth introduction and overview of current research in computational music analysis. Its seventeen chapters, written by leading researchers, collectively represent the diversity as well as the technical and philosophical sophistication of the work being done today...... on well-established theories in music theory and analysis, such as Forte's pitch-class set theory, Schenkerian analysis, the methods of semiotic analysis developed by Ruwet and Nattiez, and Lerdahl and Jackendoff's Generative Theory of Tonal Music. The book is divided into six parts, covering...... music analysis, the book provides an invaluable resource for researchers, teachers and students in music theory and analysis, computer science, music information retrieval and related disciplines. It also provides a state-of-the-art reference for practitioners in the music technology industry....

The music like scope of education. Education «through» the music and education «for» the music

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

José Manuel TOURIÑÁN LÓPEZ

2011-09-01

Full Text Available The aim of this article is the formation of criterion in favors of the music as scope of education. Inside the educational current system we can distinguish three areas of musical education: the musical professional training, the teacher training and general music education. It is important to maintain these distinctions for the development of the curriculum and for the identity of the competence of formation of teachers, student training and general education pupils. In order to build criteria, we will approach these questions in three paragraphs, the first one dedicated to the education «through» the music, where we develop the possibilities of music as general scope of education and as scope of general education. The following epigraph contemplates the education «for» the music, orientated to the professional and vocational development. And, finally, we come closer to music teacher training for the different educational levels.

Popular Music in Singapore: Cultural Interactions and the “Inauthenticity” of Singaporean Music

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fu Lequn

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The popular music industry in Singapore advocates for Western music as being superior to local Singaporean music. Singaporeans are usually skeptical about the quality of Singaporean musicians, because of the “inauthentic” stereotype of Singaporean music. So this paper analyses the culture interaction and Singapore music from some current phenomenon that J-pop, K-pop and other music types become an integral part of music culture in Singapore. At the same time, this paper elaborates Authenticity and its importance in Singaporean music and media industry and its influences.

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PLAY THERAPY AND MUSICAL THERAPY IN REDUCING THE HOSPITALIZATION STRESS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuni Sufyanti Arief

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Hospitalization in pediatric patients may caused an anxiety and stress in all age levels. Several techniques can be applied to reduced hospitalization stress in children, such as playing therapy and music therapy. The objective of this study was to analyze the difference of effectiveness between both therapies in reducing the hospitalization stress in 4-6 years old children. Method: A quasy-experimental pre-posttest design was used in this study. There were 18 respondents, divided into three groups, i.e. group one receiving playing therapy, group two receiving music therapy and the last group as control group. Data were collected by using observation sheet before and after intervention to recognize the hospitalization stress. Data were analyzed by using Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test and Mann Whitney U Test with significance level of α<0.05. Result: Result showed that playing therapy and music therapy had significant effect to reduce the hospitalization stress with p=0.027 for play therapy, p=0.024 for musical therapy, and p=0.068 for control. Mann Whitney U Test revealed that there were no difference in the effectiveness of play therapy and musical therapy in reducing the hospitalization stress with p=0.009 for play therapy and control group, p=0.012 for music therapy and control group, and p=0.684 for playing therapy and musical therapy. Discussion: It can be concluded that play therapy and musical therapy are equally effective to reduce the hospitalization stress in children. It’s recommended for nurses in pediatric ward to do  playg therapy and musical therapy periodically.

Comparison of psychomotor function between music students and students participating in music training.

Science.gov (United States)

Chansirinukor, Wunpen; Khemthong, Supalak

2014-07-01

To compare psychomotor function between a music student group who had music education and a non-music student group who participated in music training. Consecutive sampling was used for completing questionnaires, testing reaction times (visual, auditory, and tactile system), measuring electromyography of upper trapezius muscles both sides and taking photos of the Craniovertebral (CV) angle in the sitting position. Data collection was made twice for each student group: the music students at one-hour intervals for resting and conducting nonmusic activities, the non-music students at two-day intervals, 20 minutes/session, and performed music training (by a manual of keyboard notation). The non-music students (n = 65) improved reaction times, but responded slower than the music students except for the tactile system. The music students (n = 28) showed faster reaction times and higher activities of the trapezius muscle than the non-music students at post-test. In addition, the CV angle of the non-music students was significantly improved. The level of musical ability may influence the psychomotor function. Significant improvement was observed in visual, auditory and tactile reaction time, and CV angle in the non-music students. However upper trapezius muscle activities between both student groups were unchanged.

Willem van de Wall: Organizer and Innovator in Music Education and Music Therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Clair, Alicia Ann; Heller, George N.

1989-01-01

Examines Willem van de Wall's historically significant contributions to seminal literature on music therapy and the influence of music on behavior. Reviews van de Wall's early writings, at his work on music for children, and on music in institutions. Cites his "Music in Hospitals" as the culmination of his work in music therapy, music…